South Korea Bourse To Remain Rangebound On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 35 points or 1.2 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 3,060-point plateau although it's likely to hand back those gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed trade and tariff concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and utilities were capped by weakness from the technology, automobile and chemical companies.

For the day, the index added 5.19 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 3,059.47. Volume was 349.78 million shares worth 10.11 trillion won. There were 459 decliners and 427 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial soared 4.76 percent, while KB Financial rallied 2.05 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.35 percent, Samsung Electronics stumbled 2.53 percent, Samsung SDI stumbled 2.26 percent, LG Electronics plummeted 4.02 percent, SK Hynix perked 0.18 percent, Naver spiked 2.81 percent, LG Chem sank 0.69 percent, Lotte Chemical tanked 2.50 percent, SK Innovation tumbled 1.91 percent, POSCO Holdings dropped 0.95 percent, SK Telecom skidded 0.92 percent, KEPCO rose 0.27 percent, Hyundai Mobis slipped 0.34 percent, Hyundai Motor slumped 0.95 percent and Kia Motors shed 0.50 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened under water and trended steadily lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 422.17 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 44,406.36, while the NASDAQ sank 188.59 points or 0.92 percent to end at 20,412.52 and the S&P 500 dropped 49.37 points or 0.79 percent to close at 6,229.98.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflect profit taking following the strong upward move seen over the past few sessions.

Further selling pressure was generated in afternoon trading after President Donald Trump shared screen shots on Truth Social of letter sent to various world leaders about new tariffs set to be imposed on August 1st.

Imports from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Kazakhstan are now set to face 25 percent tariffs, according to the letters Trump posted.

Crude oil prices edged higher Monday, shrugging off oversupply concerns triggered by OPEC's decision to accelerate its production increase starting in August. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery rose $0.93 to settle at $67.93 per barrel.