Mild Rebound Predicted For South Korea Stock Market

The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 100 points or 3.1 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 3,015-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on encouraging corporate results and rising crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets mostly saw mild upside and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the industrials, gains from the financials and mixed performances from the oil and chemical companies.

For the day, the index shed 15.91 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 3,013.13 after trading between 3,012.97 and 3,047.24. Volume was 668 million shares worth 11 trillion won. There were 521 decliners and 337 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial climbed 1.27 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.26 percent, Hana Financial rallied 2.47 percent, Samsung Electronics lost 0.42 percent, LG Electronics retreated 1.19 percent, SK Hynix rose 0.20 percent, LG Chem advanced 1.08 percent, Lotte Chemical tanked 2.86 percent, S-Oil tumbled 1.89 percent, SK Innovation added 0.65 percent, POSCO plunged 3.28 percent, SK Telecom fell 0.33 percent, KEPCO sank 0.87 percent, Kia Motors lost 0.59 percent and Hyundai Motor, Samsung SDI and Naver were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday. The Dow and S&P 500 remained well in the green and finished that way, while the NASDAQ hugged the unchanged line and ended slightly in the red.

The Dow climbed 152.03 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 35,609.34, while the NASDAQ dipped 7.41 points or 0.05 percent to close at 15,121.68 and the S&P 500 rose 16.56 points or 0.37 percent to end at 4,536.19.

The continued strength on Wall Street came as traders reacted positively to another batch of largely upbeat corporate earnings news.

Traders largely shrugged off the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, which noted the pace of U.S. economic growth has recently slowed due to supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and uncertainty around the Delta variant of COVID-19.

The Fed also said employment increased at a modest to moderate rate in recent weeks, as demand for workers was high, but labor growth was dampened by a low supply of workers.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while increased demand also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up by $0.98 or 1.2 percent at $83.42 a barrel.