South Korea Bourse Expected To Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 70 points or 2.7 percent. The KOSPI now rests just shy of the 2,660-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continued profit taking and pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following profit taking among the financials, technology stocks, chemicals and automobile producers.

For the day, the index shed 22.47 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 2,657.79. Volume was 596.3 million shares worth 9.7 trillion won. There were 590 decliners and 277 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tanked 4.00 percent, while KB Financial stumbled 1.31 percent, Hana Financial plummeted 4.58 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.68 percent, Samsung SDI perked 0.13 percent, LG Electronics slumped 2.00 percent, SK Hynix skidded 1.12 percent, Naver lost 0.49 percent, LG Chem fell 0.39 percent, Lotte Chemical tumbled 2.53 percent, S-Oil improved 1.34 percent, SK Innovation tumbled 2.25 percent, POSCO dropped 1.01 percent, SK Telecom jumped 1.51 percent, KEPCO advanced 0.86 percent, Hyundai Mobis declined 1.64 percent, Hyundai Motor plunged 4.16 percent and Kia Motors retreated 1.28 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and largely remained that way, finishing solidly in the red.

The Dow dropped 64.19 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 38,563.80, while the NASDAQ tumbled 144.87 points or 0.92 percent to end at 15,630.78 and the S&P 500 sank 30.06 points or 0.60 percent to close at 4,975.51.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected ongoing anxiety about the outlook for interest rates following last week's hotter-than-expectation inflation data.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating just an 8.5 percent chance the Federal Reserve will lower rates by a quarter point in March, while the chances of a quarter point rate cut in early May have fallen to 33.8 percent.

Meanwhile, a strong gain by Walmart (WMT) helped limit the downside for the Dow, with the retail giant surging by 3.2 percent after reporting fourth quarter results that exceeded estimates and announcing a deal to acquire TV maker Vizio (VZIO) for $2.3 billion.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Tuesday, reflecting ongoing concerns about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate for March delivery slumped $1.01 to $78.18 a barrel, while the more actively traded crude for April delivery tumbled $1.42 to $77.04 a barrel.