Tech Shares May Drag South Korea Shares Lower

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 45 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,610-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. 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 barely higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, weakness from the chemicals and technology stocks and a mixed performance from the industrials.

For the day, the index perked 1.65 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 2,612.34 after trading between 2,606.91 and 2,638.56. Volume was 431.5 million shares worth 11.86 trillion won. There were 434 gainers and 430 decliners.

Among the actives, KB Financial jumped 1.65 percent, while Hana Financial collected 0.16 percent, Samsung SDI rose 0.21 percent, LG Electronics tumbled 1.71 percent, SK Hynix retreated 1.46 percent, Naver dropped 0.95 percent, LG Chem declined 1.49 percent, Lotte Chemical slumped 1.58 percent, SK Innovation dipped 0.08 percent, POSCO Holdings shed 0.65 percent, SK Telecom perked 0.18 percent, KEPCO surrendered 1.81 percent, Hyundai Mobis jumped 1.73 percent, Hyundai Motor improved 0.75 percent, Kia Motors stumbled 2.43 percent and Samsung Electronics and Shinhan Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 260.32 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 41,581.31, while the NASDAQ plunged 304.55 points or 1.71 percent to close at 17,504.12 and the S&P 500 sank 60.46 points or 1.07 percent to end at 5,614.66.

Concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump's trade policies continued to weigh along with worries about the economic outlook despite the release of some upbeat economic data.

The Federal Reserve said industrial production in the U.S. increased much more than expected in January. Also, the Commerce Department said new residential construction rebounded more than anticipated in February.

Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

Oil futures settled lower on Tuesday as concerns about supply disruptions eased, while worries about global growth due to the impact of U.S. trade tariffs weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $0.68 or 1 percent at $66.90 a barrel.