South Korea Bourse May Test Support At 2,400 Points

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Wednesday halted the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered just 7 points or 0.3 percent. The KOSPI now rests just shy of the 2,420-point plateau and it's got another negative lead for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuing anxiety over the outlook for interest rates and tumbling oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to open under pressure.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially from the financials, chemicals, industrials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index tumbled 41.28 points or 1.68 percent to finish at 2,417.68. Volume was 414.1 million shares worth 8.19 trillion won. There were 757 decliners and 147 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial slumped 1.92 percent, while KB Financial weakened 1.78 percent, Hana Financial dropped 2.91 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.61 percent, LG Electronics plummeted 2.54 percent, SK Hynix tumbled 2.30 percent, Naver was down 1.86 percent, LG Chem tanked 3.06 percent, Lotte Chemical fell 0.47 percent, S-Oil stumbled 1.67 percent, SK Innovation sank 1.98 percent, POSCO plunged 4.05 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.11 percent, KEPCO shed 0.98 percent, Hyundai Mobis dipped 0.47 percent, Hyundai Motor surrendered 2.24 percent and Kia Motors declined 2.74 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but faded late, allowing only the NASDAQ to finish in the green.

The Dow shed 84.50 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 33,045.09, while the NASDAQ rose 14.77 points or 0.13 percent to close at 11,507.07 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.29 points or 0.16 percent to end at 3,991.05.

The mixed close on Wall Street followed the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent monetary policy meeting. The minutes revealed a "few participants" favored raising rates by 50 basis points versus the 25 basis point rate hike that was ultimately announced.

The minutes noted all participants continued to anticipate that ongoing rate increases would be appropriate to achieve the Fed's dual goals of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, extending their losing streak to six consecutive sessions on concerns about the outlook for global demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery plunged $2.41 or 3.1 percent to $73.95 a barrel on its first day as the front month contract.

Closer to home, the Bank of Korea will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The BoK is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 3.50 percent.