South Korea Stock Market May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday halted the six-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 55 points or 2.4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,440-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on rising geopolitical tensions between the United States and China, and concerns that the economy is slowing. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the oil and chemical companies, gains from the automobile producers and mixed performances from the financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index shed 12.63 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 2,439.62 after trading between 2,428.76 and 2,451.07. Volume was 539.85 million shares worth 7.2 trillion won. There were 615 decliners and 240 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.29 percent, while KB Financial dropped 0.94 percent, Samsung Electronics gained 0.65 percent, Samsung SDI tumbled 1.89 percent, LG Electronics slumped 0.95 percent, SK Hynix shed 0.62 percent, LG Chem lost 0.49 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.84 percent, S-Oil plunged 3.59 percent, SK Innovation plummeted 3.23 percent, POSCO retreated 1.67 percent, SK Telecom declined 1.49 percent, KEPCO skidded 1.13 percent, Hyundai Motor rose 0.26 percent, Kia Motors advanced 1.00 percent and Hana Financial and Naver were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened deep in the red on Tuesday, pared some of the losses but still closed well in negative territory.

The Dow plummeted 402.23 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 32,396.17, while the NASDAQ dipped 20.22 points or 0.16 percent to close at 12,348.76 and the S&P 500 sank 27.44 points or 0.67 percent to end at 4,091.19.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as tensions climbed the U.S. and China due to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

In economic news, the Labor Department said the number of job openings in the United States fell by 605,000 from a month earlier to 10.7 million in June, the lowest in nine months and below market expectations of 11 million.

Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday, with traders weighing demand and supply prospects and looking ahead to this week's OPEC+ meeting. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.53 or 0.6 percent at $94.42 a barrel.