Continued Consolidation Called For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 55 points or 2 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,735-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with heavy damage expected among the technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open under pressure.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the energy, technology and industrial sectors, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 27.34 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 2,738.19. Volume was 376.4 million shares worth 9.9 trillion won. There were 664 decliners and 225 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial stumbled 1.98 percent, while KB Financial declined 1.65 percent, Hana Financial rallied 1.59 percent, Samsung Electronics dipped 0.25 percent, Samsung SDI slumped 1.49 percent, LG Electronics weakened 1.53 percent, SK Hynix tanked 3.43 percent, Naver and LG Chem both lost 0.97 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.90 percent, S-Oil plunged 2.63 percent, SK Innovation shed 0.67 percent, POSCO dropped 0.96 percent, SK Telecom improved 0.74 percent, KEPCO fell 0.31 percent, Hyundai Mobis plummeted 2.63 percent, Hyundai Motor tumbled 2.15 percent and Kia Motors retreated 1.85 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly negative as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly faded and finally finished mixed.

The Dow jumped 203.40 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 40,743.33, while the NASDAQ plummeted 222.79 points or 1.28 percent to close at 17,147.42 and the S&P 500 sank 27.10 points or 0.50 percent to end at 5,436.44.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the accompanying statement could have a significant impact on the outlook for the central bank's next decision in September.

The steep drop by the NASDAQ came as tech stocks came under pressure as the day progressed, weighed by the likes of Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Among tech stocks, semiconductor stocks saw some of the worst performances, resulting in a 3.9 percent nosedive by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index slumped to its lowest closing level in well over two months.

Oil prices fell Tuesday amid continued concerns about the outlook for demand, and ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement and weekly inventory data later today. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for September ended down $1.08 or 1.42 percent at $74.73 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will see June data for industrial production and retail sales later this morning. Production is tipped to fall 0.7 percent on month and rise 2.3 percent on year after slipping 1.2 percent on month and adding 3.5 percent on year in May. Sales fell 0.2 percent on month in May.