South Korea Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Thursday

The South Korea stock market has climbed higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 35 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 3,275-point plateau although the rally may stall on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat amidst a lack of strong catalysts. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the automobile producers, weakness from the financial and chemical companies and mixed performances from the oil and technology stocks.

For the day, the index gained 12.31 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 3,276.19 after trading between 3,263.07 and 3,281.88. Volume was 1 billion shares worth 17.4 trillion won. There were 595 decliners and 271 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial and Hana Financial both skidded 1.10 percent, while KB Financial shed 0.54 percent, Samsung Electronics rose 0.12 percent, LG Electronics lost 0.94 percent, SK Hynix jumped 1.64 percent, Naver skyrocketed 8.31 percent, LG Chem dropped 0.83 percent, Lotte Chemical plummeted 3.51 percent, S-Oil plunged 2.87 percent, SK Innovation soared 2.90 percent, POSCO sank 0.73 percent, SK Telecom climbed 1.56 percent, KEPCO tanked 2.00 percent, Hyundai Motor added 0.62 percent and Kia Motors gained 0.45 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday and hugged the unchanged line throughout the session, finally finishing that way.

The Dow shed 71.34 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 33,874.24, while the NASDAQ added 18.46 points or 0.13 percent to end at 14,271.73 and the S&P 500 dipped 4.60 points or 0.11 percent to close at 4,241.84.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves amid uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent volatility.

Recent comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have eased some concerns about the outlook for monetary policy that weighed on the markets last week; Powell downplayed the risk of inflation and stressed the central bank would not raise rates preemptively.

In economic news, the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed another steep drop in new home sales in the U.S. in May.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after data showed a larger than expected decline in U.S. crude inventories last week. However, the possibility of increased output from major oil producers limited oil’s surge. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended up $0.23 or 0.3 percent at $73.08 a barrel.

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