Soft Start Predicted For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, advancing more than 125 points or 5 percent in that span. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,570-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on lingering concerns about the health of the U.S. economy. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead. The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and steel companies.

The KOSPI finished 46.26 points or 1.83 percent to finish at 2,568.41 after trading between 2,510.82 and 2,594.83. Volume was 469.69 million shares worth 12.9 trillion won. There were 727 gainers and 176 decliners. Among the actives, Shinhan Financial advanced 0.94 percent, while KB Financial spiked 2.64 percent, Hana Financial collected 2.77 percent, Samsung Electronics accelerated 3.03 percent, Samsung SDI sank 0.78 percent, LG Electronics surged 5.34 percent, SK Hynix rallied 3.42 percent, Naver jumped 2.71 percent, LG Chem lost 0.82 percent, SK Innovation tumbled 1.80 percent, POSCO strengthened 1.89 percent, SK Telecom soared 5.79 percent, KEPCO climbed 2.58 percent, Hyundai Mobis shed 0.47 percent, Hyundai Motor added 0.43 percent, Kia Motors slumped 1.07 percent and Lotte Chemical was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened solidly higher on Wednesday but faded as the day progressed, finally ending with significant losses.

The Dow stumbled 234.21 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 38,763.45, while the NASDAQ sank 171.05 points or 1.05 percent to end at 16,195.81 and the S&P 500 dropped 40.53 points or 0.77 percent to close at 5,199.50.

Stocks initially continued to benefit from bargain hunting, as traders picked up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the recent sell-off.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy continued to hang over the markets.

Oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday as data showed a much larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $2.03 or 2.75 percent at $75.23 a barrel.