Soft Start Anticipated For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market turned lower again on Tuesday, one day after snapping the eight-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 150 points or 5.6 percent. The KOSPI market now rests just shy of the 2,500-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative thanks to dwindling hopes for an interest rate cut in the near future. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index stumbled 28.40 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 2,497.59. Volume was 641.9 million shares worth 8.5 trillion won. There were 647 decliners and 230 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dropped 0.94 percent, while KB Financial sank 0.97 percent, Hana Financial plunged 2.24 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 1.76 percent, Samsung SDI slumped 1.25 percent, LG Electronics fell 0.53 percent, Naver added 0.22 percent, SK Hynix retreated 1.49 percent, S-Oil stumbled 1.35 percent, SK Innovations slid 0.81 percent, LG Chem declined 1.48 percent, Lotte Chemical plummeted 2.58 percent, POSCO skidded 1.02 percent, SK Telecom lost 0.51 percent, KEPCO rallied 2.94 percent, Hyundai Mobis surrendered 1.62 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.69 percent and Kia Corporation weakened 1.21 percent.

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

The Dow tumbled 231.86 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 37,361.12, while the NASDAQ shed 28.41 points or 0.19 percent to close at 14,944.35 and the S&P 500 sank 17.85 points or 0.37 percent to end at 4,765.98.

The weakness on Wall Street came was the result of higher Treasury yields and concerns that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates anytime soon.

In addition to digesting some hawkish comments from some central bank officials, investors also reacted to disappointing quarterly earnings updates from major companies such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that the Empire State Manufacturing Index plunged to -43.7 in January, the lowest reading since May 2020.

Oil futures settled lower on Tuesday as a stronger dollar and forecasts that weather in the U.S. will be warmer than normal weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended down $0.28 at $72.40 a barrel.