KOSPI Due For Profit Taking On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has tracked higher in four straight sessions, advancing almost 215 points or 5.3 percent in that span. Now at another fresh record closing high, the KOSPI sits just above the 4,220-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with technology stocks expected to provide a slight bump. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher again on Monday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index surged 114.37 points or 2.78 percent to finish at 4,221.87 after trading between 4,123.36 and 4,221.92. Volume was 468 million shares worth 22.5 trillion won. There were 611 gainers and 288 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 1.09 percent, while KB Financial climbed 1.20 percent, Hana Financial perked 0.12 percent, Samsung Electronics spiked 3.35 percent, Samsung SDI rose 0.33 percent, LG Electronics accelerated 6.26 percent, SK Hynix skyrocketed 10.91 percent, Naver jumped 2.62 percent, LG Chem slumped 1.13 percent, Lotte Chemical advanced 1.13 percent, SK Innovation stumbled 1.86 percent, POSCO Holdings added 0.32 percent, SK Telecom shed 0.38 percent, KEPCO soared 5.99 percent, Hyundai Mobis plummeted 5.22 percent, Hyundai Motor gained 0.52 percent and Kia Motors tumbled 1.83 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and closed in similar fashion.

The Dow dropped 226.19 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 47,336.68, while the NASDAQ climbed 109.77 points or 0.46 percent to close at 23,834.72 and the S&P 500 rose 11.77 points or 0.17 percent to end at 6,851.97.

The gain by the tech-heavy NASDAQ reflected a sharp increase by shares of Amazon (AMZN) after it announced a $38 billion agreement with OpenAI. Market leader Nvidia (NVDA) also rallied after software giant Microsoft (MSFT) revealed it has secured export licenses to ship Nvidia chips to the United Arab Emirates.

On the other hand, shares of Merck (MRK) weighed on the Dow, as did Nike (NKE), 3M (MMM) and Chevron (CVX).

In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted at a slightly faster rate in October.

Crude oil prices edged slightly higher on Monday after OPEC agreed to halt production hikes for the first quarter of 2026. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.07 or 0.11 percent at $61.05 per barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will release October data for consumer prices later this morning, with forecasts suggesting a flat monthly reading and a 2.1 percent yearly increase. That follows the 0.5 percent monthly increase and the 2.1 percent annual gain in September.