South Korea Bourse May Open Under Pressure On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 70 points or 2.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,725-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key inflation data later this week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished barely lower on Monday following gains from the financials and automobile producers, losses from the energy companies and a mixed picture from the technology companies.

For the day, the index eased 0.42 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 2,727.21 after trading between 2,713.92 and 2,738.38. Volume was 614.2 million shares worth 12.9 trillion won. There were 481 decliners and 380 gainers.

Among the actives, KB Financial spiked 2.90 percent, while Hana Financial soared 2.42 percent, Samsung Electronics skidded 1.01 percent, Samsung SDI advanced 0.93 percent, LG Electronics was up 0.10 percent, SK Hynix rallied 2.17 percent, Naver tumbled 2.28 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.51 percent, Lotte Chemical jumped 2.85 percent, S-Oil dropped 0.85 percent, SK Innovation lost 0.36 percent, POSCO shed 0.50 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.38 percent, KEPCO plummeted 5.92 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.45 percent, Kia Motors perked 0.18 percent and Shinhan Financial and Hyundai Mobis were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded as the day progressed, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 81.33 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 39,431,51, while the NASDAQ gained 47.37 points or 0.29 percent to end at 16,388.24 and the S&P 500 eased 1.26 points or 0.02 percent to close at 5,221.42.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from renewed optimism about an interest rate cut by Federal Reserve in the coming months.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as key inflation data due this week could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

Oil prices advanced on Monday amid expectations about the outlook for demand after OPEC decided to extend supply cuts into the second half of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.86 at $79.12 a barrel.