KOSPI May Run Out Of Steam On Wednesday

The South Korea stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 35 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,615-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity, although technology shares may provide a slight boost. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the utilities were offset by weakness from the chemicals and mixed performances from the finance and technology sectors.

For the day, the index rose 5.37 points or 0.21 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,617.80 after trading as low as 2,595.86. Volume was 335.2 million shares worth 9.1 trillion won. There were 441 decliners and 408 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial improved 1.25 percent, while KB Financial sank 0.73 percent, Hana Financial shed 0.61 percent, Samsung Electronics rallied 2.58 percent, Samsung SDI retreated 1.29 percent, LG Electronics slumped 1.08 percent, SK Hynix stumbled 2.91 percent, Naver lost 0.70 percent, LG Chem plummeted 6.05 percent, Lotte Chemical surrendered 2.32 percent, SK Innovation dropped 0.82 percent, POSCO declined 0.86 percent, SK Telecom dipped 0.17 percent, KEPCO climbed 1.10 percent, Hyundai Mobis plunged 2.17 percent, Hyundai Motor skidded 1.10 percent and Kia Motors tumbled 1.88 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and largely hugged the line before ending mixed.

The Dow slumped 154.52 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 42,233.05, while the NASDAQ jumped 145.56 points or 0.78 percent to close at a record 18,712.75 and the S&P 500 rose 9.40 points or 0.16 percent to end at 5,832.92.

The climb by the NASDAQ came ahead of the release of earnings news from big-name tech companies, including with Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL).

Semiconductor stocks showed a particularly strong move to the upside, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.3 percent.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board noted a substantial improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in October. Also, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. fell to 7.44 million in September from a downwardly revised 7.86 million in August.

Oil futures settled lower again on Tuesday amid concerns crude supplies will far exceed near term demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $0.17 or about 0.25 percent at $67.21 a barrel.

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