Renewed Consolidation Called For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 45 points or 2 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,200-point plateau although it may tick lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains soft amidst uncertainty over interest rates and the health of the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses are likely to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology stocks and oil companies, while the financials and chemicals were mixed.

For the day, the index improved 10.40 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 2,202.47 after trading between 2,181.65 and 2,205.02. Volume was 642.5 million shares worth 7.32 trillion won. There were 450 decliners and 410 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.87 percent, while KB Financial dipped 0.22 percent, Hana Financial strengthened 1.36 percent, Samsung Electronics gained 0.72 percent, LG Electronics rallied 2.05 percent, SK Hynix soared 4.21 percent, Naver jumped 2.21 percent, LG Chem skidded 1.01 percent, Lotte Chemical skyrocketed 6.21 percent, S-Oil added 0.47 percent, SK Innovation advanced 0.96 percent, POSCO spiked 2.83 percent, SK Telecom perked 0.10 percent, KEPCO stumbled 1.63 percent, Hyundai Mobis plunged 2.98 percent, Kia Motors climbed 1.19 percent and Hyundai Motor was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened lower, bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before a late slide saw them finish with mild losses.

The Dow shed 28.34 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 29,210.85, while the NASDAQ eased 9.09 points or 0.09 percent to close at 10,417.10 and the S&P 500 fell 11.81 points or 0.33 percent to end at 3,577.03.

The late downward push came after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting, which showed that members expect interest rates to remain high till prices come down.

The members also lowered their projections for the economy and expect GDP to grow at just a 0.2 percent annualized pace in 2022 and just 1.2 percent in 2023, well below trend and big drop from 2021, which saw the strongest gains since 1984.

Also, the Labor Department said the Producer Price Index for final demand in the U.S. increased by 0.4 percent month-over-month in September, rising for the first time in three months.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday, falling for a third straight session amid concerns about the outlook for demand due to slowing global growth after OPEC cut its demand forecast for this year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $2.02 or 2.26 percent at $87.33 a barrel.