South Korea Shares May Be Stuck In Neutral On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday snapped the seven-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 115 points or 4.6 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,570-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid mixed economic and earnings data. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index dipped 4.82 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 2,571.09 after trading between 2,557.19 and 2,582.23. Volume was 882.9 million shares worth 13.9 trillion won. There were 577 decliners and 309 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.70 percent, while Hana Financial collected 1.20 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.46 percent, Samsung SDI jumped 1.46 percent, LG Electronics lost 0.53 percent, SK Hynix skidded 1.02 percent, Naver surrendered 2.13 percent, LG Chem spiked 2.48 percent, Lotte Chemical declined 1.44 percent, S-Oil retreated 1.23 percent, SK Innovation plummeted 2.84 percent, POSCO stumbled 2.13 percent, SK Telecom strengthened 1.25 percent, KEPCO plunged 2.32 percent, Hyundai Mobis slumped 1.32 percent, Hyundai Motor tumbled 1.85 percent, Kia Motors tanked 2.13 percent and KB Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street provides little guidance as the major averages opened mixed and hugged the unchanged line throughout the session, finally ending on opposite sides and barely moved.

The Dow shed 10.55 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,976.63, while the NASDAQ dipped 4.31 points or 0.04 percent to close at 12,153.41 and the S&P 600 rose 3.55 points or 0.09 percent to end at 4,154.87.

Traders were unhappy with remarks from St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, who said that he favored continued interest-rate hikes to counter persistent inflation and added that recession fears are overblown.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said U.S. housing starts slid by 0.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.420 million in March from a revised rate of 1.432 million in February.

In earnings news, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson and Netflix all beat the street, while Goldman Sachs and United Airlines missed expectations.

Oil futures settled slightly higher Tuesday as traders assessed Chinese GDP numbers and data showing a drop in eurozone and German investor sentiment. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May rose $0.03 at $80.86 a barrel.