Continued Consolidation Called For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Monday ended the modest two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than a dozen points or 0.5 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,650-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautious ahead of key economic data later this week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modesty lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares and automobile producers, while the technology stocks came in mixed.

For the day, the index sank 20.62 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 2,647.08 after trading between 2,629.78 and 2,659.60. Volume was 519.6 million shares worth 10.8 trillion won. There were 657 decliners and 231 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial surrendered 4.50 percent, while KB Financial plunged 5.02 percent, Hana Financial plummeted 5.94 percent, Samsung Electronics eased 0.14 percent, Samsung SDI added 0.64 percent, LG Electronics improved 0.31 percent, SK Hynix gained 0.25 percent, Naver fell 0.30 percent, LG Chem perked 0.11 percent, Lotte Chemical skidded 2.55 percent, S-Oil slumped 3.86 percent, SK Innovation retreated 1.95 percent, POSCO shed 0.69 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.19 percent, KEPCO surged 5.52 percent, Hyundai Mobis dropped 2.43 percent, Hyundai Motor tumbled 2.05 percent and Kia Motors tanked 3.21 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but faded as the day progressed, ending with mild losses.

The Dow shed 62.30 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 39,069.23, while the NASDAQ lost 20.57 points or 0.13 percent to close at 15,976.25 and the S&P 500 fell 19.27 points or 0.38 percent to end at 5,069.53.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders seem be reluctant to make significant moves as they digest last week's gains, which lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record highs.

Traders were also cautious ahead of key inflation reports later this week from Germany, France and Spain - as well as the U.S. Federal Reserve's favored core measure of personal consumption expenditure prices.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a continued rebound in new home sales in the U.S. in January, although the increase fell short of estimates.

Oil prices pared early losses and climbed higher on Monday as continued attacks by Houthi militants in the Red Sea route raised concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $1.09 or 1.4 percent at $77.58 a barrel.