Mild Upside Seen For South Korea Stock Market

The South Korea stock market on Wednesday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had risen just 8 points or 0.3 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,700-point plateau although it may inch higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on conflicting signals over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially among the financials, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index tumbled 46.19 points or 1.68 percent to finish at 2,706.97. Volume was 628.41 million shares worth 12.74 trillion won. There were 632 decliners and 246 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tanked 3.12 percent, while KB Financial slumped 2.32 percent, Hana Financial declined 1.59 percent, Samsung Electronics skidded 1.06 percent, Samsung SDI plummeted 5.52 percent, LG Electronics stumbled 2.69 percent, SK Hynix surrendered 3.81 percent, Naver gained 0.73 percent, LG Chem plunged 4.07 percent, Lotte Chemical and SK Telecom both dropped 0.97 percent, S-Oil fell 0.25 percent, SK Innovation retreated 1.57 percent, POSCO sank 2.69 percent, KEPCO lost 0.93 percent, Hyundai Mobis weakened 2.83 percent, Hyundai Motor tumbled 1.82 percent and Kia Motors was down 2.77 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday, moved modestly into the green and then finished mixed.

The Dow dipped 43.10 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 39,127.14, while the NASDAQ rose 37.01 points or 0.23 percent to close at 16,277.46 and the S&P 500 perked 5.68 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,211.49.

The early turnaround on Wall Street followed a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected slowdown in the pace of U.S. service sector growth in March.

Worries the Federal Reserve may hold off on lowering interest rates also contributed to the early weakness on Wall Street after payroll processor ADP noted stronger than expected private sector job growth in the U.S. in March.

Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated during remarks at Stanford University that the central bank is not in a hurry to begin lowering interest rates.

Oil prices climbed higher Wednesday after OPEC ended its meeting without making any changes to its production policy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.28 or 0.33 percent at $85.43 a barrel.

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