Rebound Anticipated For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the three-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 30 points or 1.3 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,425-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially among the financials, technology stocks, industrials and oil and chemical companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 37.74 points or 1.53 percent to finish at 2,427.90. Volume was 380 million shares worth 8.64 trillion won. There were 803 decliners and 108 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tumbled 3.55 percent, while KB Financial tanked 4.91 percent, Hana Financial plummeted 5.44 percent, Samsung Electronics slumped 1.58 percent, LG Electronics slid 0.44 percent, SK Hynix stumbled 1.82 percent, Naver tumbled 3.79 percent, LG Chem eased 0.30 percent, Lotte Chemical dropped 1.19 percent, S-Oil declined 2.68 percent, SK Innovation cratered 7.46 percent, POSCO skyrocketed 6.03 percent, SK Telecom surrendered 2.31 percent, KEPCO plunged 4.80 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 0.70 percent, Hyundai Motor fell 0.58 percent and Kia Motors sank 1.22 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday but improved steadily throughout the session and finished in the green.

The Dow added 38.78 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 34,128.05, while the NASDAQ jumped 110.45 points or 0.92 percent to end at 12,070.59 and the S&P 500 rose 11.47 points or 0.28 percent to close at 4,147.60.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of upbeat retail sales data.

The sharp increase in retail sales has led to concerns the Federal Reserve will be encouraged to continue aggressively raising interest rates in an effort to combat inflation.

The concerns about rates may have been partly offset by a separate report from the Federal Reserve showing U.S. industrial production was unexpectedly unchanged in January.

Crude oil prices came off daily lows but still moved solidly lower on Wednesday, hurt by a stronger U.S. dollar and a spike in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate was down $0.47 or 0.6 percent to $78.59 per barrel.