Renewed Support Anticipated For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after snapping the four-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 150 points or 6.3 percent. Now at a fresh two-year closing low, the KOSPI sits just beneath the 2,170-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following news of bond market intervention from the Bank of England. The European and U.S. markets were up and the oversold Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially from the technology stocks, industrials and oil and chemical companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 54.57 points or 2.45 percent to finish at 2,169.29 after trading between 2,151.60 and 2,223.56. Volume was 586.26 million shares worth 9.06 trillion won. There were 823 decliners and 91 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.72 percent, while KB Financial dipped 0.34 percent, Hana Financial rose 0.14 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 2.40 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 3.92 percent, LG Electronics lost 2.46 percent, SK Hynix dropped 0.98 percent, Naver stumbled 1.96 percent, LG Chem plunged 4.04 percent, Lotte Chemical cratered 7.86 percent, S-Oil crashed 4.42 percent, SK Innovation slumped 1.66 percent, POSCO fell 0.44 percent, SK Telecom surrendered 2.29 percent, KEPCO plummeted 4.71 percent, Hyundai Mobis sank 2.51 percent, Hyundai Motor retreated 3.49 percent and Kia Motors declined 3.40 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but accelerated shortly thereafter to finish solidly in the green.

The Dow surged 548.75 points or 1.88 percent to finish at 29,683.74, while the NASDAQ soared 222.13 points or 2.05 percent to end at 11,051.64 and the S&P 500 jumped 71.75 points or 1.97 percent to close at 3,719.04.

The rally on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to the Bank of England's plans to begin temporarily purchasing long-dated U.K. government bonds to address dysfunction in the gilt market. In addition, the BoE postponed the selling of bonds held under the quantitative easing program to October 31.

Long-term U.K. bond yields have pulled back following the news, while U.S. treasury yields also moved sharply lower after surging in recent sessions. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note showed a steep drop after briefly topping 4.0 percent for the first time in over 12 years.

Stocks also benefited from a significant pullback by the U.S. dollar, with the U.S. dollar index tumbling by 1.2 percent. The greenback had recently reached new 20-year highs.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Wednesday after data showed a dip in U.S. crude inventories last week, and the dollar's sharp drop also contributed to the jump in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $3.65 or 4.7 percent at $82.15 a barrel.