South Korea Bourse Due For Profit Taking On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished higher in five straight sessions, improving more than 60 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2.500-point plateau although investors figure to cash in on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growth concerns, with energy and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financials and mixed performances from the oil, technology and industrial sectors.

For the day, the index added 10.36 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 2,503.46 after trading between 2,481.36 and 2,506.49. Volume was 446.4 million shares worth 8.74 trillion won. There were 422 gainers and 412 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.56 percent, while KB Financial added 0.59 percent, Hana Financial climbed 1.02 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.32 percent, Samsung SDI spiked 3.02 percent, LG Electronics gained 0.74 percent, SK Hynix declined 1.25 percent, Naver soared 2.51 percent, LG Chem surged 2.91 percent, Lotte Chemical jumped 1.71 percent, S-Oil strengthened 1.50 percent, SK Innovation fell 0.26 percent, POSCO rallied 2.50 percent, KEPCO advanced 0.92 percent, Hyundai Mobis dropped 1.11 percent, Hyundai Motor slumped 1.28 percent, Kia Motors rose 0.12 percent and SK Telecom was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow shed 58.13 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,774.41, while the NASDAQ tumbled 150.53 points or 1.19 percent to end at 12,493.93 and the S&P 500 fell 17.59 points or 0.42 percent to close at 4,122.47.

Technology stocks helped to lead Wall Street lower, with semiconductor stocks turning in some of the worst performances after Micron Technology (MU) warned that it may miss its previous guidance.

The weakness also came as traders looked ahead to the release of a highly anticipated reading on U.S. consumer price inflation later today.

Crude oil futures settled modestly lower Tuesday on concerns about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $90.50 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide unemployment data for July later this morning; in June, the jobless rate was 2.9 percent.