Bargain Hunting May Boost South Korea Stock Market

The South Korea stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, tumbling more than 150 points or 5 percent along the way. Now at its lowest closing level this year, the KOSPI rests just above the 2,900-point plateau although it’s overdue for support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with bargain hunting likely for the oversold bourses – although sliding crude oil prices may cap the upside. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the bard – especially from the oil, finance and technology stocks.

For the day, the index plunged 53.86 points or 1.82 percent to finish at 2,908.31 after trading between 2,908.30 and 2,993.47. Volume was 887.63 million shares worth 15.4 trillion won. There were 780 decliners and 118 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial fell 0.51 percent, while KB Financial dropped 1.09 percent, Hana Financial slid 0.44 percent, Samsung Electronics skidded 1.25 percent, LG Electronics tanked 2.83 percent, SK Hynix retreated 1.43 percent, Naver gained 0.67 percent, LG Chem shed 0.54 percent, Lotte Chemical improved 0.64 percent, S-Oil sank 0.89 percent, SK Innovation plunged 3.58 percent, POSCO declined 1.55 percent, SK Telecom and KEPCO both tumbled 1.72 percent, Hyundai Motor rose 0.26 percent and Kia Motors plummeted 3.98 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday, but a late rally saw the Dow and S&P finish in positive territory.

The Dow climbed 102.32 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 34,416.99, while the NASDAQ shed 64.79 points or 0.44 percent to close at 14,501.91 and the S&P 500 rose 6.51 points or 0.15 percent to end at 4,363.55.

The turnaround on Wall Street came following news Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., offered to allow a temporary extension of the debt limit.

Worries about the debt limit weighed on the markets in early trading along with lingering concerns about inflation and the Federal Reserve scaling back stimulus.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP noted stronger than expected private sector job growth in September. On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report, which includes both public and private sector jobs.

Crude oil prices drifted lower Wednesday, coming of multi-year highs amid concerns about slowing economic growth, high inflation and fears of interest rate hikes from central banks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.50 or 1.9 percent at $77.43 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will release August numbers for its current account later this morning; in July, the current account surplus was $8.21 billion.