KOSPI May Spin Its Wheels On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing almost 95 points or 3 percent in that span. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 3,110-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement as geopolitical concerns appear to have taken a breather. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

For the day, the index added 4.61 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 3,108.25 after trading between 3,084.86 and 3,129.09. Volume was 624.7 million shares worth 18.7 trillion won. There were 466 gainers and 420 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.66 percent, while KB Financial stumbled 2.49 percent, Hana Financial collected 1.09 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.32 percent, Samsung SDI eased 0.10 percent, LG Electronics dipped 0.13 percent, SK Hynix spiked 2.69 percent, Naver tumbled 2.41 percent, LG Chem improved 0.71 percent, Lotte Chemical plunged 3.23 percent, SK Innovation sank 0.79 percent, POSCO Holdings rallied 2.47 percent, SK Telecom added 0.53 percent, KEPCO skyrocketed 11.00 percent, Hyundai Mobis surged 4.39 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 5.34 percent and Kia Motors spiked 4.33 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened mixed and spent the whole day hugging the line before ending little changed.

The Dow dropped 106.59 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 42,982.43, while the NASDAQ added 61.02 points or 0.31 percent to close at 19,973.55 and the S&P 500 eased 0.02 points or 0.00 percent to end at 6,092.16.

The initial strength on Wall Street reflected recent upward momentum, which saw stocks move sharply higher over the two previous sessions.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders continue to monitor developments in the Middle East following yesterday's news of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The subsequent pullback likely was profit taking after the major averages reached their highest intraday levels in four months.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed a substantial pullback by new home sales in the U.S. in May.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday as an EIA report indicated a draw in crude oil inventories and a surge in U.S. gasoline demand to a three-and-a-half-year high. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery closed up by $0.55 to settle at $64.92 per barrel.