South Korea Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Thursday

The South Korea stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back trading days, advancing almost 50 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,735-point plateau although investors may choose to lock in gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with technology stocks and financials in particular likely targeted for profit taking. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index gained 25.05 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 2,735.05 after trading between 2,720.83 and 2,742.27. Volume was 870.73 million shares worth 11.7 trillion won. There were 529 gainers and 300 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 2.58 percent, while KB Financial spiked 4.27 percent, Hana Financial collected 2.39 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.28 percent, LG Electronics sank 0.81 percent, Naver was up 1.77 percent, Samsung SDI gathered 2.16 percent, LG Chem increased 3.25 percent, Lotte Chemical climbed 1.22 percent, SK Innovation dropped 0.94 percent, POSCO soared 4.61 percent, Hyundai Steel surged 6.72 percent, SK Telecom strengthened 1.57 percent, KEPCO rose 0.22 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.44 percent, Kia Motors gained 0.70 percent and SK Hynix and S-Oil were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and remained that way largely throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 448.96 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 34,358.50, while the NASDAQ dropped 186.21 points or 1.32 percent to close at 13,922.60 and the S&P 500 sank 55.37 points or 1.23 percent to end at 4,456.24.

Lingering concerns about the ongoing war in Ukraine have contributed to the pullback on Wall Street along with a spike by the price of crude oil. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to impose further sanctions on Russia during his trip to Europe this week.

Traders also were cashing in on recent strength in the markets, as stocks moved notably higher in five out of the six previous sessions, although they may be wary of continuing to buy stocks amid worries about the Russia-Ukraine crisis, inflation and higher interest rates.

Crude oil futures settled at over two-week highs on Wednesday, lifted by data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories and worries about supply disruptions due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $5.66 or 5.2 percent at $114.93 a barrel.