Renewed Support Anticipated For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 60 points or 2.2 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,655-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks, chemical companies and industrials.

For the day, the index slumped 29.67 points or 1.10 percent to finish at 2,656.17 after trading between 2,645.14 and 2,673.57. Volume was 683.5 million shares worth 10.5 trillion won. There were 603 decliners and 276 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial surrendered 2.25 percent, while KB Financial stumbled 2.55 percent, Hana Financial dropped 0.97 percent, Samsung SDI rallied 1.58 percent, LG Electronics perked 0.10 percent, SK Hynix tanked 2.50 percent, Naver sank 0.81 percent, LG Chem eased 0.17 percent, Lotte Chemical retreated 1.41 percent, S-Oil rose 0.26 percent, POSCO declined 1.82 percent, KEPCO plummeted 7.82 percent, Hyundai Mobis crashed 5.41 percent, Hyundai Motor tumbled 2.06 percent, Kia Motors plunged 7.11 percent and Samsung Electronics, SK Innovation and SK Telecom were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but trended upward throughout the day and finished in the green.

The Dow jumped 320.33 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 39,110.76, while the NASDAQ rallied 3.34 points or 0.39 percent to close at 16,166.79 and the S&P 500 gained 29.09 points or 0.56 percent to end at 5,178.51.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street reflected a rebound by Nvidia (NVDA) after the company unveiled its latest line of AI chips; the company has lately been a key driver of market activity.

Traders also continue to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the central bank's accompanying statement could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department noted a substantial rebound in new residential construction in the U.S. in February, while building permits also bounced higher.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Tuesday, rising for a second straight day as traders continued to assess the impact of Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April climbed $0.75 at $83.47 a barrel.