KOSPI May Run Out Of Steam On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 60 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 3,115-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cloudy on lingering concerns over U.S. trade policy. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and automobile producers, while the chemical and technology companies were mixed.

For the day, the index rallied 55.48 points or 1.81 percent to finish at 3,114.95. Volume was 735.5 million shares worth 13.2 trillion won. There were 643 gainers and 240 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial soared 7.73 percent, while KB Financial rallied 6.64 percent, Woori Financial surged 8.32 percent, Hana Financial skyrocketed 10.27 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.49 percent, Samsung SDI skidded 1.13 percent, LG Electronics lost 0.67 percent, SK Hynix jumped 4.06 percent, Naver improved 0.78 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.55 percent, Lotte Chemical rose 0.45 percent, SK Innovation perked 0.18 percent, POSCO Holdings sank 0.80 percent, SK Telecom improved 1.30 percent, KEPCO spiked 4.46 percent, Hyundai Mobis climbed 3.57 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.20 percent and Kia Motors gained 0.51 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Tuesday's trade hugging the line, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 165.60 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 44,240.76, while the NASDAQ rose 5.95 points or 0.03 percent to close at 20,418.46 and the S&P 500 dipped 4.46 points or 0.07 percent to end at 6,225.52.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as investors were reluctant to make significant moves amid lingering uncertainty about President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies.

A lack of major U.S. economic data may also have kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday.

The Fed minutes may shed light on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the central bank's next meeting on July 29-30. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 95.3 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged this month.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Tuesday on concerns over disruptions to the oil supply lines due to Houthi attacks. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery closed up by $0.40 at $68.33 per barrel.