Continued Consolidation Called For KOSPI

The South Korea stock market on Wednesday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 35 points or 1.4 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,590-point plateau and it’s tipped to open under pressure again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on mixed corporate and economic news. The European and U.S. markets finished under water and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and steel companies, while the technology and automobile stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 24.01 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 2,593.79 after trading between 2,586.88 and 2,613.47. Volume was 476.4 million shares worth 8.76 trillion won. There were 514 decliners and 350 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tanked 3.88 percent, while KB Financial stumbled 1.68 percent, Hana Financial surrendered 3.69 percent, Samsung Electronics sank 0.84 percent, Samsung SDI retreated 1.45 percent, LG Electronics perked 0.11 percent, SK Hynix rallied 2.47 percent, Naver soared 3.07 percent, LG Chem added 0.63 percent, Lotte Chemical rose 0.22 percent, SK Innovation declined 1.33 percent, POSCO tumbled 1.88 percent, SK Telecom shed 0.52 percent, KEPCO lost 0.43 percent, Hyundai Mobis gained 0.40 percent, Hyundai Motor slumped 1.56 percent and Kia Motors improved 0.43 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but then bounced higher for most of the day before a late slump saw them finish in the red.

The Dow dropped 91.51 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 42,141.54, while the NASDAQ tumbled 104.82 points or 0.56 percent to close at 18,607.93 and the S&P 500 sank 19.25 points or 0.33 percent to end at 5,813.67.

The choppy trading came as investors reacted to a mixed batch of corporate earnings as Alphabet (GOOGL) and Snap (SNAP) rallied after good results, while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Caterpillar (CAT) stumbled after disappointing.

On the U.S. economic front, payroll processor ADP said private sector employment in the U.S. shot up much more than anticipated in October, although a a separate report released by the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic growth unexpectedly slowed in the third quarter.

Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week and on reports that OPEC may delay its planned output increase. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $1.40 or 2.1 percent at $68.61 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide September figures for retail sales and industrial production later this morning. Sales are expected to rise 0.5 percent on month after gaining 1.7 percent in August. Industrial output is tipped to add 1.2 percent on month and 0.2 percent on year after rising 4.1 percent on month and 3.8 percent on year in the previous month.