South Korea Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 180 points or 3.2 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,480-point plateau and it's expected to extend its losses on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile companies.

For the day, the index dropped 49.09 points or 1.94 percent to finish at 2,482.57 after trading between 2,481.53 and 2,532.44. Volume was 719 million shares worth 12.3 trillion won. There were 787 decliners and 120 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial retreated 1.24 percent, while Hana Financial shed 0.65 percent, Samsung SDI and Samsung Electronics both plunged 3.64 percent, LG Electronics tumbled 2.22 percent, SK Hynix tanked 3.53 percent, Naver rallied 3.07 percent, LG Chem added 0.49 percent, Lotte Chemical slumped 2.15 percent, SK Innovation declined 1.84 percent, POSCO skidded 2.09 percent, SK Telecom gained 0.71 percent, KEPCO dropped 3.37 percent, Hyundai Mobis rose 0.39 percent, Hyundai Motor stumbled 1.90 percent, Kia Motors surrendered 2.85 percent and KB Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly headed south and stayed in the red, finishing with modest losses.

The Dow stumbled 382.15 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 43,910.98, while the NASDAQ slipped 17.36 points or 0.09 percent to close at 19,281.40 and the S&P 500 sank 17.36 points or 0.29 percent to end at 5,983.99.

The pullback on Wall Street reflected profit taking as some traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets following the U.S. elections.

Also, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation, due out later today.

Oil prices edged up only a bit on Tuesday after OPEC lowered its global oil demand forecast for 2025, while the dollar's continued strength hurt as well. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December rose $0.08 at $68.12 a barrel.