South Korea Shares May Turn Lower Again

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Monday halted the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 75 points or 2.9 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,590-point plateau, although it may hand back those gains on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the U.S. presidential election and the Federal Reserve rate decision this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion. The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the technology stocks and industrials, while the financials and chemical companies were mixed. For the day, the index rallied 46.61 points or 1.83 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,588.97 after trading as low as 2,542.68. Volume was 367.8 million shares worth 7.9 trillion won. There were 619 gainers and 254 decliners. Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.93 percent, while KB Financial slumped 1.20 percent, Hana Financial retreated 1.31 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.69 percent, Samsung SDI jumped 1.81 percent, LG Electronics improved 1.65 percent, SK Hynix surged 6.46 percent, Naver spiked 3.01 percent, LG Chem climbed 1.73 percent, Lotte Chemical dropped 0.97 percent, SK Innovation lost 0.57 percent, POSCO rallied 2.37 percent, SK Telecom dipped 0.18 percent, KEPCO rose 0.22 percent, Hyundai Motor strengthened 1.41 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 3.29 percent and Hyundai Mobis was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, hugged the line for much of the day and finished in the red.

The Dow stumbled 257.59 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 41,794.60, while the NASDAQ shed 59.93 points or 0.33 percent to close at 18,179.98 and the S&P 500 sank 16.11 points or 0.28 percent to end at 5,712.69.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the U.S. elections on Tuesday, as Vice President Kamala Harris faces off against former President Donald Trump.

With polls showing an extremely tight race between Harris and Trump, the outcome of the presidential election may not be known on Election Day.

Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, which is due to be announced on Thursday. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another 25 basis points, but traders will be looking to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of future rate cuts.

Oil prices rose sharply on Monday, buoyed by OPEC's decision to delay plans to increase production, and on rising concerns about tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $1.98 or about 2.85% at $71.47 a barrel, extending gains to a fourth straight session.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide October figures for consumer prices later this morning, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.2 percent on month and 1.4 percent on year. That follows the 0.1 percent monthly increase and the 1.6 percent yearly gain in September.