South Korea Shares Likely To Remain Rangebound On Thursday

The South Korea stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had slumped almost 40 points or 1.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,600-point plateau although it’s likely to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative amid rising treasury yields and pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and steel companies.

For the day, the index rallied 28.92 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 2,599.62. Volume was 345.96 million shares worth 9.25 trillion won. There were 448 gainers and 408 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.54 percent, while KB Financial perked 0.21 percent, Hana Financial fell 0.31 percent, Samsung Electronics spiked 2.43 percent, Samsung SDI accelerated 2.16 percent, LG Electronics soared 3.32 percent, SK Hynix surged 4.37 percent, Naver improved 0.76 percent, LG Chem jumped 2.04 percent, Lotte Chemical strengthened 1.53 percent, SK Innovation rallied 3.38 percent, POSCO climbed 3.17 percent, SK Telecom slumped 1.39 percent, KEPCO added 0.69 percent, Hyundai Mobis fell 0.40 percent, Hyundai Motor gained 2.77 percent and Kia Motors rose 0.54 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, albeit bouncing off session lows.

The Dow plunged 409.94 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 42,514.95, while the NASDAQ plummeted 296.47 points or 1.60 percent to close at 18,276.47 and the S&P 500 dropped 53.78 points or 0.92 percent to end at 5,797.42.

The weakness on Wall Street came amid a continued increase by treasury yields, which have moved sharply higher over the past few sessions.

The yield on the benchmark ten-year note has risen to its highest level in almost three months amid worries the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates slower than previously anticipated.

While the Fed is still widely expected to lower interest rates by a quarter-point next month, there is increasing skepticism about another rate cut in December.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories last week, while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December fell $0.97 or 1.35 percent at $70.77 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will release preliminary Q3 data for gross domestic product later this morning. GDP is expected to rise 0.5 percent on quarter and 2.0 percent on year after slipping 0.2 percent on quarter and expanding 2.3 percent on year in the previous three months.

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