South Korea Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 15 points or 0.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,730-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, matching the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology stocks and industrials, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index rallied 57.73 points or 2.16 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,734.36 after moving as low as 2,716.62. Volume was 523 million shares worth 10.9 trillion won. There were 582 gainers and 285 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.43 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.27 percent, Hana Financial perked 0.17 percent, Samsung Electronics soared 4.77 percent, Samsung SDI sank 0.68 percent, LG Electronics climbed 1.52 percent, SK Hynix spiked 3.70 percent, Naver was up 0.10 percent, LG Chem slid 0.37 percent, Lotte Chemical gained 0.46 percent, SK Innovation jumped 2.37 percent, POSCO increased 0.74 percent, SK Telecom advanced 0.98 percent, KEPCO rallied 2.82 percent, Hyundai Mobis improved 1.11 percent, Hyundai Motor added 0.41 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 1.58 percent and S-Oil was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher but faded to finish mixed and barely changed.

The Dow added 31.99 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 38,884.26, while the NASDAQ slipped 16.69 points or 0.10 percent to close at 16,332.56 and the S&P 500 rose 6.96 points or 0.13 percent to end at 5,187.70.

The modest strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Relatively dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell combined with weaker-than-expected job growth in April have largely eliminated short-lived concerns the Fed might actually consider raising rates.

However, buying interest waned in afternoon trading after Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari suggested interest rates may need to remain at current levels for an "extended period."

Oil futures settled slightly lower on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $0.10 at $78.38 a barrel.