South Korea Shares Likely To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 25 points or 1 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,725-point plateau although it may bounce higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast is murky amid a lack of true catalysts. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financials, chemicals and energy companies, while the technology stocks and automobile producers were mixed.

For the day, the index slumped 17.96 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 2,724.18 after trading between 2,719.74 and 2,734.48. Volume was 547.5 million shares worth 10.02 trillion won. There were 585 decliners and 290 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dipped 0.20 percent, while Hana Financial stumbled 1.40 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.63 percent, Samsung SDI plummeted 2.95 percent, LG Electronics skidded 1.03 percent, SK Hynix and Hyundai Motor both advanced 1.00 percent, Naver lost 0.43 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.79 percent, Lotte Chemical plunged 3.53 percent, S-Oil tanked 2.12 percent, SK Innovation surrendered 2.22 percent, POSCO tumbled 1.87 percent, SK Telecom eased 0.19 percent, KEPCO was down 0.05 percent, Hyundai Mobis declined1.76 percent, Kia Motors fell 0.44 percent and KB Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened lower but gradually picked up steam as the day progressed and ended with mild gains.

The Dow added 66.22 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 39,872.99, while the NASDAQ gained 37.75 points or 0.22 percent to close at a record 16,832.62 and the S&P 500 rose 13.28 points or 0.25 percent to end at a record 5,321.41.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came on renewed confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in the coming months, although recent comments from Fed officials have once again created some uncertainty.

While the likelihood rates will be lower by September remains high, the chances have fallen to 78.3 percent from close to 90 percent last week, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Another quiet day on the U.S. economic front may also have kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of the minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting later today.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, slumping for a second straight session amid concerns that the central bank might keep rates higher for a longer period. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June dropped to around $79.06 a barrel, down 0.74 or 0.93 percent.