South Korea Shares May Take Further Damage On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, slipping almost 20 points or 0.8 percent in that span. The KOSPI now sits just shy of the 2,500-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, ahead of key data and an OPEC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished barely lower on Monday following losses from the financials and mixed performances from the technology, chemical and industrial companies.

For the day, the index eased 0.97 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 2,495.66 after trading between 2,489.18 and 2,511.37. Volume was 358.9 million shares worth 8.23 trillion won. There were 525 decliners and 349 gainers.

Among the actives, KB Financial tanked 2.42 percent, while Hana Financial lost 0.48 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.56 percent, Samsung SDI tumbled 2.05 percent, LG Electronics sank 0.76 percent, SK Hynix soared 2.11 percent, Naver rose 0.24 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.56 percent, Lotte Chemical rallied 2.07 percent, S-Oil perked 0.14 percent, SK Innovation skidded 1.06 percent, POSCO dropped 0.95 percent, SK Telecom improved 0.77 percent, KEPCO climbed 1.12 percent, Hyundai Mobis slid 0.22 percent, Hyundai Motor added 0.49 percent, Kia Motors eased 0.12 percent and Shinhan Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, improved midday but then stumbled into the close.

The Dow dropped 56.68 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 35,333.47, while the NASDAQ eased 9.83 points or 0.07 percent to close at 14,241.02 and the S&P 500 fell 8.91 points or 0.20 percent to end at 4,550.43.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days.

Traders also were looking for additional clues about the outlook for interest rates, with optimism the Fed is done raising rates contributing to recent strength on Wall Street.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new home sales in U.S. pulled back sharply in October after surging in September.

Crude Oil prices fell on Monday with traders speculating on the likely outcome of Thursday's OPEC meeting to discuss production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January fell $0.68 or 0.9 percent at $74.86 a barrel.