South Korea Stock Market May See Renewed Consolidation

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Monday halted the three-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 65 points or 2.8 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,410-point plateau although it may head south again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing fears of a financial crisis. The European markets were sharply lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead. The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and oil and chemical companies. For the day, the index picked up 16.01 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 2,410.60 after trading between 2,369.79 and 2,413.24. Volume was 371 million shares worth 7.4 trillion won. There were 652 gainers and 255 decliners. Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.70 percent, while KB Financial increased 1.21 percent, Hana Financial gained 1.07 percent, Samsung Electronics advanced 0.84 percent, LG Electronics spiked 1.56 percent, SK Hynix climbed 1.20 percent, Naver improved 1.35 percent, LG Chem strengthened 1.56 percent, Lotte Chemical added 0.45 percent, S-Oil perked 0.12 percent, SK Innovation rallied 1.50 percent, POSCO soared 2.03 percent, SK Telecom dipped 0.21 percent, KEPCO sank 0.68 percent, Hyundai Mobis was up 0.92 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 0.57 percent and Kia Motors gathered 1.03 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Monday bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow dropped 90.50 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 31,819.14, while the NASDAQ added 49.96 points or 0.45 percent to close at 11,188.84 and the S&P 500 dipped 5.83 points or 0.15 percent to end at 3,855.76.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came on continued concerns over the fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse - which triggered heavy selling, particularly in the banking sector.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said they would "fully protect" depositors, including those with assets above the federally guaranteed $250,000 limit, but traders were not reassured.

Investors are also nervous ahead of the ECB meeting and key inflation data due out later this week.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday amid worries that a U.S. banking debacle may follow last week's collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures settled lower by $1.88 or 2.4 percent at $74.80 a barrel.