KOSPI May Extend Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Tuesday, one day after halting the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 35 points or 1.4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2535-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and energy and chemical companies.

For the day, the index sank 20.30 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 2,536.58. Volume was 354.5 million shares worth 8.78 trillion won. There were 639 decliners and 230 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial retreated 1.23 percent, while KB Financial sank 0.72 percent, Hana Financial was down 0.12 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.42 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 2.62 percent, LG Electronics dipped 0.20 percent, SK Hynix improved 0.69 percent, Naver surged 3.78 percent, LG Chem fell 0.36 percent, Lotte Chemical eased 0.14 percent, S-Oil skidded 1.14 percent, SK Innovation lost 0.54 percent, POSCO plunged 4.21 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.31 percent, KEPCO tumbled 1.86 percent, Hyundai Mobis gained 0.65 percent, Hyundai Motor added 0.38 percent and Kia Motors perked 0.13 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday, rallied midday and then finished under water.

The Dow dipped 17.73 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 34,645.99, while the NASDAQ tumbled 144.28 points or 1.04 percent to close at 13,773.61 and the S&P 500 sank 25.56 points or 0.57 percent to end at 4,461.90.

The lower close on Wall Street came as traders look ahead to the release of the Labor Department's highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation later today.

The inflation data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting next week; CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 93.0 percent chance the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged.

A steep drop by shares of Oracle (ORCL) weighed on the tech-heavy NASDAQ, with the software giant plunging by 13.5 percent after the company reported weaker than expected fiscal first quarter revenues and provided disappointing revenue guidance for the current quarter.

Oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday to a 10-month closing high after the monthly report from (OPEC) showed the oil market may be a lot tighter than initially thought. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.55 or 1.8 percent at $88.84 a barrel.