Rebound Tipped For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market turned lower again on Tuesday, one day after snapping the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 100 points or 2.8 percent. The KOSPI sits just beneath the 3,425-point plateau, although it may bounce higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside as investors figure to wait and see is the U.S. government can avert a shutdown. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 6.61 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 3,424.60 after trading between 3,421.89 and 3,443.38. Volume was 511.5 million shares worth 10.7 trillion won. There were 584 decliners and 279 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial eased 0.14 percent, while KB Financial dipped 0.17 percent, Hana Financial tumbled 1.80 percent, Samsung Electronics slipped 0.36 percent, Samsung SDI shed 0.49 percent, LG Electronics dropped 0.95 percent, SK Hynix fell 0.43 percent, Naver stumbled 2.19 percent, LG Chem sank 0.79 percent, Lotte Chemical tanked 2.03 percent, SK Innovation skidded 1.08 percent, POSCO Holdings slumped 0.90 percent, SK Telecom fell 0.37 percent, KEPCO surrendered 2.30 percent, Hyundai Mobis improved 0.84 percent and Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages spent all of Tuesday under water until the very end, when they crept up into positive territory.

The Dow climbed 81.82 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 46,397.89, while the NASDAQ added 68.86 points or 0.30 percent to end at 22,660.01 and the S&P 500 gained 27.25 points or 0.41 percent to close at 6,688.46.

The choppy trading for much of the day came as traders kept an eye on Washington, where lawmakers are struggling to reach an agreement to avert a government shutdown.

The late-day strength on Wall Street reflected hopes lawmakers will reach a last-minute agreement, as they often do, or optimism that a government shutdown will not have a major impact on the economy.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Conference Board report showing a bigger than expected decrease by its reading on U.S. consumer confidence in the month of September.

Crude oil declined sharply on Tuesday, extending recent losses as excess supply concerns continue to linger due to the anticipated production increase by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $1.08 or 1.70 percent at $62.37 per barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide September figures for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning; in August, imports were down 4.1 percent on year and exports rose an annual 1.2 percent for a trade surplus of $6.51 billion.