South Korea Stock Market Has A Red Light For Thursday’s Trade

The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 35 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The KOSPI sits just above the 3,215-point plateau and it may extend its losses again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financials, technology stocks and industrials, although the oil companies offered support.

For the day, the index dropped 31.65 points or 0.97 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,216.18 after peaking at 3,246.49. Volume was 1.9 billion shares worth 16.9 trillion won. There were 571 decliners and 287 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial declined 1.40 percent, while KB Financial surrendered 1.73 percent, Hana Financial tumbled 1.81 percent, Samsung Electronics dropped 0.98 percent, LG Electronics lost 1.31 percent, SK Hynix plunged 3.92 percent, Naver skidded 1.00 percent, LG Chem sank 0.74 percent, Lotte Chemical shed 0.73 percent, S-Oil spiked 2.48 percent, SK Innovation jumped 1.67 percent, POSCO tanked 2.20 percent, SK Telecom eased 0.15 percent, KEPCO fell 0.38 percent, Hyundai Motor retreated 1.64 percent and Kia Motors was down 1.31 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks opened mixed on Wednesday, bounced back and forth across the unchanged line and eventually ended slightly lower.

The Dow dropped 152.68 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 34,447.14, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.16 points or 0.09 percent to end at 13,911.75 and the S&P 500 eased 7.71 points or 0.18 percent to close at 4,219.55.

The cautious trade on Wall Street reflected concerns over key inflation data that could prompt the Federal Reserve to begin discussions on tapering its asset buying program sooner than expected.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said wholesale inventories rose 0.8 percent on month to $ 698.0 billion in April after seeing a 1.2 percent increase in March.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Wednesday after data showed a jump in U.S. gasoline stockpiles last week. West Intermediate crude oil futures for July ended down $0.09 or 0.1 percent at $69.96 a barrel.