Additional Support Predicted For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Wednesday halted the five-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 100 points or 4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,450-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher, with upside limited by concern over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, losses from the industrials and mixed performances from the technology, chemical and oil companies.

For the day, the index gained 12.11 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 2,447.45 after trading between 2,430.69 and 2,454.01. Volume was 407.61 million shares worth 7.93 trillion won. There were 575 gainers and 275 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial spiked 2.27 percent, while KB Financial soared 2.86 percent, Hana Financial surged 2.91 percent, Samsung Electronics dipped 0.17 percent, Samsung SDI added 0.68 percent, LG Electronics retreated 1.03 percent, SK Hynix fell 0.43 percent, Naver was up 0.21 percent, LG Chem dropped 0.97 percent, Lotte Chemical climbed 1.13 percent, S-Oil rallied 4.44 percent, SK Innovation strengthened 1.23 percent, POSCO sank 1.01 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.20 percent, KEPCO plunged 2.63 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.53 percent and Kia Motors skidded 1.03 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages shook off early weakness and moved quickly to the upside, although they finished well off of the day's highs.

The Dow added 59.64 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,969.23, while the NASDAQ gained 50.23 points or 0.41 percent to end at 12,431.53 and the S&P 500 rose 12.04 points or 0.29 percent to close at 4,140.77.

The early weakness followed comments from Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who reiterated the U.S. central bank's commitment to bringing inflation under control through tighter monetary policy.

Investors also looked ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central bank's annual Jackson Hole economic symposium later this week for clues about the bank's outlook for the economy and interest rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said that new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods were virtually unchanged in July. Also, the rate of decline for pending home sales slowed from the previous month.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, supported by data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, as well as news that OPEC may cut production to support prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $1.15 or 1.2 percent at $94.89 a barrel.

Closer to home, the Bank of Korea will wrap up its monetary policy meeting today and then announce its decision on interest rates. The BoK is widely expected to hike its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, from 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent.