South Korea Shares May Extend Wednesday’s Losses

The South Korea stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 100 points or 3.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,760-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on disappointing earnings news and soft data. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index shed 15.58 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 2,758.71 after trading between 2,748.65 and 2,778.31. Volume was 458.6 million shares worth 10.9 trillion won. There were 489 decliners and 368 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.54 percent, while KB Financial plunged 4.19 percent, Hana Financial tanked 2.69 percent, Samsung Electronics surrendered 2.26 percent, Samsung SDI lost 0.60 percent, LG Electronics skidded 1.23 percent, SK Hynix jumped 1.71 percent, Naver added 0.64 percent, LG Chem sank 0.80 percent, Lotte Chemical fell 0.69 percent, SK Innovation declined 1.41 percent, POSCO retreated 2.39 percent, SK Telecom perked 0.19 percent, KEPCO was up 0.16 percent, Hyundai Mobis advanced 0.90 percent, Hyundai Motor tumbled 1.90 percent and Kia Motors slumped 1.74 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened deep in the red on Wednesday and only moved lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 504.22 points or 1.25 percent to finish at 39,853.87, while the NASDAQ plunged 654.94 points or 3.64 percent to close at 17,342.41 and the S&P 500 tumbled 128.61 points or 2.31 percent to end at 5,427.13.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to disappointing corporate earnings news from companies like Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL).

In economic news, the Commerce Department unexpectedly reported a continued decrease in new home sales in the U.S. in June.

Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.63 or 0.81 percent at $77.59 a barrel, snapping a three-day losing streak.

Closer to home, South Korea will release preliminary Q2 figures for gross domestic product later this morning. GDP is expected to rise 0.1 percent on quarter and 2.5 percent on year, moderating from 1.3 percent on quarter and 3.3 percent on year in the three months prior.