Tech Shares May Nudge South Korea Shares Higher

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market ticked higher again on Tuesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 60 points or 2.3 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,705-points plateau and it may see mild upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key economic data later in the day. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the chemical and industrial companies were capped by weakness from the technology shares.

For the day, the index rose 4.15 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 2,705.32 after trading between 2,702.17 and 2,718.88. Volume was 550 million shares worth 11.6 trillion won. There were 510 decliners and 349 gainers.

Among the actives, Samsung Electronics shed 0.66 percent, while Samsung SDI eased 0.13 percent, LG Electronics tumbled 2.39 percent, SK Hynix spiked 2.16 percent, Naver fell 0.29 percent, LG Chem strengthened 1.21 percent, Lotte Chemical skyrocketed 8.61 percent, S-Oil sank 0.75 percent, SK Innovation rallied 2.27 percent, POSCO improved 0.80 percent, SK Telecom lost 0.58 percent, KEPCO perked 0.20 percent, Hyundai Mobis slumped 1.13 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.31 percent, Kia Motors rose 0.49 percent and Shinhan Financial, KB Financial and Hana Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday but trended to the upside as the day progressed and ended mixed.

The Dow slumped 120.62 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 38,747.42, while the NASDAQ rallied 151.02 points or 0.88 percent to close at a record 17,343.55 and the S&P 500 added 14.53 points or 0.27 percent to end at 5,375.32 - also a record.

The advance by the tech-heavy NASDAQ was partly due to a surge by shares of Apple (AAPL), with the tech giant surging 7.3 percent to a record after unveiling new AI features that may drive users to upgrade their devices.

But traders are looking ahead to two potentially major market moving economic events later today - the Labor Department's inflation report for May, and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for the economy and interest rates.

Oil futures settled slightly higher Tuesday as caution reigned ahead of inventory data and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July ended up by $0.16 at $77.90 a barrel.