Soft Start Predicted For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved lower in back-to-back trading days, surrendering more than 45 points or 2 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,190-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with a dose of volatility as bargain hunting may give the oversold bourses a lift - but the gains may evaporate as the day progresses. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Tuesday with damage across the board, especially among the financials, industrials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index dropped 40.77 points or 1.83 percent to finish at 2,192.07 after trading between 2,174.06 and 2,193.05. Volume was 846.31 million shares worth 7.75 trillion won. There were 866 decliners and 60 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tanked 2.26 percent, while KB Financial slumped 2.72 percent, Hana Financial stumbled 2.64 percent, Samsung Electronics declined 1.42 percent, LG Electronics cratered 4.28 percent, SK Hynix skidded 1.10 percent, Naver dropped 0.94 percent, LG Chem strengthened 1.36 percent, Lotte Chemical fell 0.33 percent, S-Oil rose 0.36 percent, SK Innovation surrendered 1.58 percent, POSCO jumped 1.55 percent, SK Telecom retreated 2.99 percent, KEPCO tumbled 4.65 percent, Hyundai Mobis eased 0.25 percent, Hyundai Motor plunged 4.27 percent and Kia Motors plummeted 5.07 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up weak as the major averages saw considerable volatility on Tuesday, opening lower before rallying and then handing back the gains to finish mixed.

The Dow rose 36.31 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 29,239.19, while the NASDAQ tumbled 115.91 points or 1.10 percent to end at 10,426.19 and the S&P 500 sank 23.55 points or 0.65 percent to close at 3,588.84.

The early weakness on Wall Street was due to concerns about rising interest rates and the impact of high borrowing costs on corporate earnings and economic growth. A downward revision in the global economic growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund also weighed.

The markets rebounded when treasury yields ticked lower, but stocks faltered past mid-afternoon after the Bank of England said that its market intervention will be over soon.

Oil futures fell on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session on concerns about outlook for energy demand amid the rising possibility of a global recession. A surge in COVID-19 cases in China and fears of further monetary policy tightening also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.78 or 2 percent at $89.35 a barrel.

Closer to home, the Bank of Korea will wrap up its monetary policy meeting later this morning and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to hike its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points, from 2.50 percent to 3.00 percent.