KOSPI May Spin Its Wheels On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, improving more than 50 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2.490-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to slightly higher, with easing recession fears offset by interest rate concerns. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the financials, oil companies and automobile producers were capped by weakness from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index rose 2.30 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 2,493.10 after trading between 2,477.76 and 2,494.00. Volume was 409.1 million shares with 7.41 trillion won. There were 422 gainers and 409 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rose 0.28 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.40 percent, Hana Financial spiked 2.63 percent, Samsung Electronics skidded 1.14 percent, Samsung SDI dipped 0.17 percent, LG Electronics retreated 1.98 percent, SK Hynix tumbled 2.23 percent, Naver slumped 3.18 percent, LG Chem rallied 1.56 percent, Lotte Chemical plunged 3.57 percent, S-Oil strengthened 1.41 percent, SK Innovation surged 5.39 percent, POSCO perked 0.21 percent, SK Telecom eased 0.19 percent, KEPCO shed 0.46 percent, Hyundai Mobis added 0.67 percent, Hyundai Motor gained 0.77 percent and Kia Motors climbed 1.12 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages were unable to hold solid early gains, eventually hugging the line and finishing mixed.

The Dow rose 29.07 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 32,832.54, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.10 points or 0.10 percent to end at 12,644.46 and the S&P 500 eased 5.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 4,140.06.

The early strength on Wall Street extended a recent upward trend; easing concerns about a potential recession may have contributed to the continued upward move following last week's much stronger than expected jobs data.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as the strong jobs data has increased the likelihood of another 75-basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant bets ahead of the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data later this week.

Crude oil prices recovered after early losses and settled sharply higher on Monday as data showed a significant increase in oil purchases by China so far this month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.75 or 2 percent at $90.76 a barrel.