Mild Upside Seen For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Monday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 80 points or 2.8 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,855-point plateau although it's expected to inch higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher on uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the financials and chemicals, while the technology and industrial shares were mixed.

For the day, the index slipped 4.47 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 2,857.76. Volume was 420.2 million shares worth 9.8 trillion won. There were 518 gainers and 344 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tanked 2.80 percent, while KB Financial declined 1.47 percent, Hana Financial plunged 3.17 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.34 percent, Samsung SDI dipped 0.13 percent, LG Electronics slumped 2.26 percent, SK Hynix skidded 1.06 percent, Naver jumped 1.43 percent, LG Chem eased 0.14 percent, Lotte Chemical and S-Oil both sank 0.74 percent, SK Innovation dropped 0.80 percent, POSCO perked 0.13 percent, SK Telecom fell 0.39 percent, KEPCO rallied 1.49 percent, Hyundai Mobis tumbled 1.86 percent, Hyundai Motor improved 0.71 percent and Kia Motors retreated 1.66 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Monday but quickly faded and spent the rest of the day bouncing back and forth across the line before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 31.08 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 39,344.79, while the NASDAQ added 50.98 points or 0.28 percent to close at a record 18,403.74 and the S&P rose 5.66 points or 0.10 percent to end at 5,572.85 - also a record.

The inconsistency on Wall Street reflected uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of several key economic events this week, including reports on consumer and producer prices.

Traders are also likely to pay close attention to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony this week, looking for clues about the interest rate outlook.

Oil prices fell on Monday after Hurricane Beryl forced the shutdown of some oil export facilities near Houston. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.83 or 1 percent at $82.33 a barrel.