KOSPI May Break Through 4,100-Point Barrier

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has tracked higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had plummeted almost 220 points or 5 percent. The KOSPI sits just beneath the 4,075-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on optimism that the end of the U.S. government shutdown in near. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead. The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Monday with gains across the board, especially among the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials. For the day, the index surged 119.48 points or 3.02 percent to finish at 4,073.24 after trading between 3,984.24 and 4,092.91. Volume was 334 million shares worth 16.5 trillion won. There were 804 gainers and 98 decliners. Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 1.81 percent, while KB Financial spiked 4.28 percent, Hana Financial vaulted 4.57 percent, Samsung Electronics jumped 2.76 percent, Samsung SDI strengthened 2.94 percent, LG Electronics climbed 1.47 percent, SK Hynix rallied 4.48 percent, LG Chem expanded 3.93 percent, Lotte Chemical skyrocketed 7.12 percent, SK Innovation accelerated 3.97 percent, POSCO Holdings improved 1.51 percent, SK Telecom added 0.94 percent, KEPCO soared 4.88 percent, Hyundai Mobis gained 3.62 percent, Hyundai Motor increased 2.46 percent, Kia Motors surged 3.27 percent and Naver was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Monday and largely spent most of the sessions firmly in positive territory.

The Dow jumped 381.53 points or 0.81 percent to finish at 47,368.63, while the NASDAQ surged 522.64 points or 2.27 percent to close at 23,527.17 and the S&P 500 rallied 103.63 points or 1.54 percent to end at 6,832.43.

The strength on Wall Street came after the Senate voted to advance legislation to end the government shutdown, which recently became the longest in U.S. history. The Senate voted 60-40 in favor of a temporary funding bill, which would also reverse some of the recent mass federal layoffs.

Several Democratic Senators broke with party leaders in favor of moving forward with the legislation, as it does call for a vote on the extension of enhanced Obamacare tax credits.

The end of the shutdown would also lead to the resumption of the release of key U.S. economic data that has recently been withheld.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday on the prospects of the U.S. government shutdown coming to a close. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.31 or 0.52 percent at $60.06 per barrel.