South Korea Bourse May Give Up Support At 2,400 Points

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has tracked lower in two straight sessions, slipping more than 30 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,410-point plateau and it's expected to extend its losses again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on trade concerns emanating from protests in China. The European and U.S. markets were solidly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, oil companies and chemicals, while the technology and automobile stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 29.59 points or 1.21 percent to finish at 2,408.27 after trading between 2,401.95 and 2,425.65. Volume was 343.2 million shares worth 6.36 trillion won. There were 703 decliners and 166 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.68 percent, while KB Financial tumbled 2.18 percent, Hana Financial plunged 3.35 percent, Samsung Electronics slumped 1.48 percent, Samsung SDI rose 0.28 percent, LG Electronics surged 3.90 percent, SK Hynix tanked 2.35 percent, Naver surrendered 2.43 percent, LG Chem eased 0.28 percent, Lotte Chemical and SK Innovation both dropped 0.57 percent, S-Oil plummeted 3.88 percent, POSCO lost 0.51 percent, SK Telecom dipped 0.20 percent, KEPCO sank 0.74 percent, Hyundai Mobis fell 0.48 percent, Hyundai Motor advanced 0.90 percent and Kia Motors was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened lower on Monday and the losses accelerated as the day progressed, closing near session lows.

The Dow plunged 497.57 points or 1.45 percent to finish at 33,849.46, while the NASDAQ tumbled 176.86 points or 1.58 percent to close at 11,049.50 and the S&P 500 slumped 62.18 points or 1.54 percent to end at 3,963.94.

Concerns about developments in China fueled the substantial pullback on Wall Street, as widespread protests against the Beijing's zero-Covid restriction policy broke out over the weekend.

The weakness on Wall Street may also have reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next month's Federal Reserve meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes next month, the minutes of the central bank's early November meeting suggested some officials think rates will be to be raised higher than previously anticipated.

Crude oil prices shook off early weakness and moved higher on Monday amid speculation that OPEC will seriously consider a new production cut at its meeting later this week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January gained $0.96 or 1.3 percent at $77.24 a barrel.