Continued Support Called For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 60 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,630-point plateau and it's got a solid lead again for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses moved higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index added 16.28 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 2,628.62 after trading between 2,613.48 and 2,642.83. Volume was 645.95 million shares worth 11.66 trillion won. There were 504 gainers and 370 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial strengthened 1.50 percent, while KB Financial climbed 1.25 percent, Hana Financial collected 1.47 percent, Samsung Electronics rallied 1.56 percent, Samsung SDI added 0.58 percent, LG Electronics advanced 1.49 percent, SK Hynix improved 1.23 percent, Naver shed 0.48 percent, LG Chem surged 4.54 percent, Lotte Chemical soared 3.35 percent, SK Innovation skidded 1.19 percent, POSCO Holdings spiked 2.46 percent, SK Telecom gained 1.43 percent, KEPCO rose 0.46 percent, Hyundai Mobis jumped 2.27 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.75 percent and Kia Motors increased 0.73 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened modestly higher on Wednesday but accelerated into the close, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 383.32 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 41,964.63, while the NASDAQ surged 246.67 points or 1.41 percent to close at 17,750.79 and the S&P 500 rallied 60.63 points or 1.08 percent to end at 5,675.29.

Stocks rallied early in the session and saw further upside following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The Fed announced its widely expected decision to again leave interest rates unchanged but signaled that it is still likely to lower rates later this year.

Meanwhile, Fed officials lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent.

Oil futures closed higher on Wednesday amid continued uncertainty about growth due to the impact of U.S. tariffs on some of its major trading partners. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.26 or 0.39 percent at $67.16 a barrel.