Steady Start Eyed For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, slumping almost 250 points or 5.8 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,420-point plateau although it's due for support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on a mixed outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks, industrials and other exporters.

For the day, the index plunged 65.49 points or 2.64 percent to finish at 2,417.08 after trading between 2,415.77 and 2,478.87. Volume was 605 million shares worth 10.8 trillion won. There were 801 decliners and 104 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.36 percent, while KB Financial retreated 1.83 percent, Hana Financial weakened 1.30 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 4.53 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 3.40 percent, LG Electronics eased 0.23 percent, SK Hynix shed 1.56 percent, Naver added 0.44 percent, LG Chem surrendered 5.40 percent, Lotte Chemical skidded 2.45 percent, SK Innovation slumped 2.95 percent, POSCO plunged 5.25 percent, SK Telecom slid 0.70 percent, KEPCO rallied 3.26 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 0.98 percent, Hyundai Motor stumbled 3.43 percent and Kia Motors dropped 1.20 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but quickly faded and wound up mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 47.21 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 43,958.19, while the NASDAQ sank 50.66 points or 0.26 percent to close at 19,230.74 and the S&P 500 perked 1.39 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,985.38.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came following the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that came in line with estimates.

While the data increased confidence that the Federal Reserve will continue lowering interest rates next month, inflation remaining somewhat sticky led to uncertainty about the likelihood of future rate cuts.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 82.3 percent chance of another quarter point rate cut in December but a 60.2 percent chance rates will then be left unchanged in January.

Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday thanks to short covering after recent sharp losses, while a firm dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $0.31 or 0.46 percent at $68.43 a barrel.