South Korea Shares May Tick Lower On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 40 points or 1.7 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,675-point plateau and it figures to remain rangebound again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation ahead of key data later this week that could affect the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and industrials, while the technology companies were mixed.

For the day, the index climbed 31.91 points or 1.21 percent to finish at 2,674.27 after trading between 2,662.32 and 2,682.00. Volume was 383 million shares worth 12.2 trillion won. There were 442 decliners and 436 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 1.49 percent, while KB Financial skyrocketed 8.66 percent, Hana Financial soared 6.36 percent, Samsung Electronics rallied 2.04 percent, Samsung SDI shed 0.66 percent, LG Electronics skidded 1.05 percent, SK Hynix surged 6.59 percent, Naver retreated 1.54 percent, LG Chem jumped 1.99 percent, Lotte Chemical jumped 3.76 percent, S-Oil tumbled 1.70 percent, SK Innovation dipped 0.09 percent, POSCO gained 6.14 percent, SK Telecom slumped 1.33 percent, KEPCO lost 0.20 percent, Hyundai Mobis spiked 3.92 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.00 percent and Kia Motors advanced 0.88 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday, rallied in the afternoon but sank back into the red by the close.

The Dow dropped 97.55 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 38,989.83, while the NASDAQ sank 67.43 points or 0.41 percent to close at 16,207.51 and the S&P 500 eased 6.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 5,130.95.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of caution on the part of investors, with several significant data points on tap for the coming days.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony will be in focus for clues about the outlook for interest rates. Powell is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

Then on Friday is the Labor Department's highly anticipated employment report for February, which also could affect the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures ended lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand after OPEC extended its output cuts to the end of the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.23 or 1.5 percent at 78.74 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will on Tuesday release Q4 figures for gross domestic product later this morning. GDP is expected to rise 0.6 percent on quarter and 2.2 percent on year after adding 0.6 percent on quarter and 1.1 percent on year in the three months prior.