Soft Start Seen For South Korea Stock Market

The South Korea stock market on Monday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 15 points or 0.5 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 3,135-point plateau and it’s tipped to see mild selling pressure on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is unclear, with uncertainty of interest rates and the coronavirus tempered by support from crude oil prices. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the oil and chemical companies were offset by weakness from the financials and industrials – while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index rose 8.40 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 3,133.64 after trading between 3,119.26 and 3,146.35. Volume was 872 million shares worth 12.1 trillion won. There were 492 gainers and 373 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial slid 0.25 percent, while KB Financial eased 0.19 percent, Hana Financial lost 0.45 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.52 percent, LG Electronics dropped 0.72 percent, SK Hynix rose 0.48 percent, Naver rallied shed 0.62 percent, LG Chem climbed 1.18 percent, Lotte Chemical gained 3.59 percent, S-Oil surged 4.29 percent, SK Innovation advanced 1.00 percent, POSCO retreated 1.45 percent, SK Telecom soared 3.40 percent, KEPCO was up 0.21 percent, Hyundai Motor declined 1.45 percent and Kia Motors sank 0.61 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and finished the same way.

The Dow added 71.37 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 34,869.37, while the NASDAQ sank 77.73 points or 0.52 percent to close at 14,969.97 and the S&P 500 fell 12.37 points or 0.28 percent to end at 4,443.11.

The choppy performance of Wall Street came as traders were cautious, looking ahead to speeches from several Fed officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell.

Uncertainty regarding the debt-laden China Evergrande added to the cautious sentiment.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods increased more than expected in August.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday, extending gains to a fifth session amid tighter supplies and signs of rising demand for oil. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up by $1.47 or 2 percent at $75.45 a barrel.

Closer to home, the Bank of Korea said this morning that consumer sentiment improved in September with a Composite Consumer Sentiment Index score of 103.8 – up from 102.5 in August. Consumer sentiment regarding current living standards and their future outlook were unchanged at 91 and 96, respectively.

Consumer sentiment related to future household income was unchanged at 99, and that concerning future household spending was two points higher than in the previous month, at 109.