KOSPI May Find Traction On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two consecutive trading days, stumbling almost 160 points or 4 percent in that span. The KOSPI sits just beneath the 3,930-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with better-than-expected earnings news from AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) expected to fuel the markets. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the technology stocks and mixed performances from the financials, chemicals and industrials.

For the day, the index shed 24.11 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 3,929.51. Volume was 330.78 million shares worth 14.26 trillion won. There were 463 gainers and 417 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.39 percent, while KB Financial fell 0.24 percent, Hana Financial jumped 1.76 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.33 percent, Samsung SDI tumbled 1.66 percent, LG Electronics shed 0.57 percent, SK Hynix slumped 1.40 percent, Naver dipped 0.20 percent, LG Chem added 0.64 percent, Lotte Chemical skidded 1.12 percent, SK Innovation strengthened 1.56 percent, POSCO Holdings rose 0.32 percent, SK Telecom expanded 1.33 percent, KEPCO plunged 4.55 percent, Hyundai Motor eased 0.19 percent and Kia Motors was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and hugged the line for most of the day before ending with modest gains.

The Dow added 47.03 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 46,138.77, while the NASDAQ jumped 131.38 points or 0.59 percent to end at 22,564.23 and the S&P 500 gained 24.84 points or 0.38 percent to close at 6,642.16.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the significant weakness of the past few sessions. The major averages slumped to their lowest closing levels in a month on Tuesday on lingering concerns about a potential AI bubble.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of earnings news Nvidia after the close of Wednesday's trading.

Stocks continued to show a lack of direction after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting revealed officials had mixed views about the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil tumbled on Wednesday, with various data points reinforcing oversupply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $1.22 or 2.01 percent at $59.52 per barrel.