South Korea Bourse May Extend Monday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the four-day winning streak in which it had soared almost 100 points or 4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,475-point plateau and it may take further damage on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with oil and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the technology stocks, gains from the automobile producers and mixed performances from the financials and oil and chemical companies.

For the day, the index slipped 8.51 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 2,474.65 after trading between 2,470.60 and 2,499.43. Volume was 499 million shares worth 7.21 trillion won. There were 563 gainers and 301 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial perked 0.13 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.51 percent, Hana Financial fell 0.36 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.59 percent, LG Electronics climbed 1.16 percent, SK Hynix tanked 2.78 percent, Naver plunged 2.58 percent, LG Chem declined 1.49 percent, Lotte Chemical skyrocketed 7.45 percent, S-Oil rose 0.22 percent, SK Innovation slumped 1.37 percent, POSCO soared 3.15 percent, SK Telecom sank 0.79 percent, KEPCO jumped 2.11 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 0.23 percent, Hyundai Motor rallied 2.33 percent and Kia Motors spiked 2.79 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, bounced higher in the afternoon but then a late swoon sent them all into the red at the close.

The Dow dropped 211.16 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 33,536.70, while the NASDAQ slumped 127.11 points or 1.12 percent to end at 11,196.22 and the S&P 500 lost 35.68 points or 0.89 percent to close at 3,957.25.

The volatility on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following last week's rally.

The lower close on the day came despite comments from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard that added to optimism about a slower pace of rate hikes.

Crude oil prices slumped Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China, a downward revision in demand growth forecast by OPEC and a stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $3.09 or 3.5 percent at $85.87 a barrel.