South Korea Shares May Tick Higher Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 50 points or 2 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,500-point plateau and it may find additional support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, supported by oil and technology stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and chemicals, while the industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index rallied 45.62 points or 1.86 percent to finish at 2,500.10 after trading between 2,471.55 and 2,500.67. Volume was 314.4 million shares worth 8.87 trillion won. There were 733 gainers and 163 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial soared 4.64 percent, while KB Financial surged 4.98 percent, Hana Financial collected 3.61 percent, Samsung SDI added 0.77 percent, LG Electronics advanced 0.91 percent, SK Hynix jumped 3.84 percent, Naver spiked 2.70 percent, Lotte Chemical rallied 3.21 percent, SK Innovation climbed 1.06 percent, POSCO tumbled 1.78 percent, SK Telecom retreated 1.48 percent, KEPCO slumped 1.24 percent, Hyundai Mobis declined 1.43 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.69 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 4.03 percent and LG Chem and Samsung Electronics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened slightly lower on Tuesday, although the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 were able to break into the green to record closing highs by the day's end.

The Dow sank 76.47 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 44,705.53, while the NASDAQ added 76.96 points or 0.40 percent to close at 19,480.91 and the S&P rose 2.73 points or 0.05 percent to end at 6,049.

A relatively light day on the U.S. economic front may have kept traders on the sidelines, although the Labor Department reported that job openings increased by more than expected in October.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on private sector employment, service sector activity and consumer sentiment as well as remarks by several Federal Reserve officials, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The data and remarks could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed's next monetary policy meeting later this month.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Tuesday on easing concerns about excess supply on hopes that OPEC will delay plans to return its production cuts by a few more months. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $1.84 or 2.7 percent at $69.94 a barrel.