Rally May Stall For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, gathering more than 230 points or 9.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,500-point plateau although investors figure to cash in on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and fairly flat, with many of the regional bourses due for profit taking after big recent gains. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished with huge gains in all sectors on Monday as investors cheered the reimposition of a ban on stock short selling to crack down on illegal market practices.

For the day, the index skyrocketed 134.03 points or 5.66 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,502.37 after trading as low as 2,395.03. Volume was 518.4 million shares worth 14.94 trillion won. There were 743 gainers and 149 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 3.44 percent, while KB Financial rallied 5.89 percent, Hana Financial spiked 4.97 percent, Samsung Electronics added 1.87 percent, Samsung SDI accelerated 11.45 percent, LG Electronics strengthened 3.85 percent, SK Hynix gathered 5.72 percent, Naver perked 2.49 percent, LG Chem surged 10.62 percent, Lotte Chemical gained 3.99 percent, S-Oil added 2.95 percent, SK Innovation soared 13.42 percent, POSCO skyrocketed 19.18 percent, KEPCO increased 3.89 percent, Hyundai Mobis jumped 4.59 percent, Hyundai Motor rose 2.60 percent, Kia Motors improved 1.80 percent and SK Telecom was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests very mild upside as the major averages opened higher on Monday, slipped into the red late but managed to finish just above the unchanged line by the close.

The Dow rose 34.54 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,095.86, while the NASDAQ gained 40.50 points or 0.30 percent to close at 13,518.78 and the S&P 500 roe 7.64 points or 0.18 percent to end at 4,365.98.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to express optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last Wednesday combined with softer than expected jobs data last Friday has led to optimism that the central bank is done raising interest rates.

Treasuries showed a significant pullback during trading on Monday after moving sharply higher over the past few sessions. Bond prices came under pressure early in the session and saw further downside as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 10.4 basis points to 4.662 percent.

A late round of profit taking following recent gains sent markets briefly into the red before a mild recovery.

Oil futures settled higher on Monday after Russia and Saudi Arabia confirmed that they will extend their voluntary production and supply cuts to the end of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.31 or 0.4 percent at $80.82 a barrel.