South Korea Shares May Hand Back Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday ended the four-day losing streak in which it had plunged almost 140 points or 5.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,420-point plateau although it may see renewed consolidation again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with weakness expected from the computer, semiconductor and housing sectors. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Tuesday with bargain hunting across the board after recent heavy selling, especially among the chemicals and industrials.

For the day, the index rallied 57.26 points or 2.43 percent to finish at 2,417.84 after trading between 2,384.51 and 2,419.06. Volume was 587 million shares worth 9.05 trillion won. There were 873 gainers and 48.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial retreated 1.48 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.60 percent, Hana Financial perked 0.17 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.12 percent, Samsung SDI surged 5.43 percent, LG Electronics strengthened 1.32 percent, SK Hynix advanced 0.89 percent, Naver soared 3.72 percent, LG Chem rallied 8.72 percent, Lotte Chemical spiked 10.46 percent, SK Innovation skyrocketed 8.43 percent, POSCO Holdings jumped 6.90 percent, SK Telecom tumbled 1.75 percent, KEPCO gained 2.39 percent, Hyundai Mobis improved 2.26 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 4.73 percent and Kia Motors increased 4.13 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday and hugged the line for most of the session before sinking firmly into the red late in the day.

The Dow dropped 154.10 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 44,247.83, while the NASDAQ sank 49.45 points or 0.25 percent to close at 19,687.24 and the S&P 500 fell 17.94 points or 0.30 percent to end at 6,034.91.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as traders continued to cash in on recent strength in the markets ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation later today.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points next week, the data could impact the outlook for future rate cuts by the central bank.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 86.1 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next week but a 69.1 percent chance the central bank will then leave rates unchanged in late January.

Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday amid hopes that demand from China will increase following recent stimulus measures announced by the Chinese government. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $0.22 or 0.32 percent at $68.59 a barrel.