KOSPI May Extend Monday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 115 points or 2.9 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 4,150-point plateau and it's tipped to open under water again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were soft and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the technology stocks, automobile producers and chemicals, while the financial sector was soft. For the day, the index jumped 54.80 points or 1.34 percent to finish at the daily high of 4,154.85 after moving as low as 4,081.26. Volume was 392 million shares worth 15.1 trillion won. There were 550 decliners and 314 gainers. Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tanked 2.74 percent, while KB Financial stumbled 2.14 percent, Hana Financial slumped 1.26 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.01 percent, Samsung SDI rallied 2.11 percent, LG Electronics cratered 2.61 percent, SK Hynix surged 6.07 percent, Naver dipped 0.20 percent, LG Chem vaulted 1.31 percent, SK Innovation spiked 2.53 percent, POSCO Holdings expanded 2.57 percent, SK Telecom dropped 0.92 percent, KEPCO sank 0.96 percent, Hyundai Motor perked 0.16 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 1.62 percent and Lotte Chemical and Hyundai Mobis were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed but quickly headed south and spent the balance of the session well under water.

The Dow dropped 215.67 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 47,739.32, while the NASDAQ sank 32.22 points or 0.14 percent to close at 23,545.90 and the S&P 500 fell 23.89 points or 0.35 percent to end at 6,846.51.

The modest pullback on Wall Street reflected profit taking following recent strength in the markets, which saw the NASDAQ and S&P 500 reach their best closing levels in a month last Friday.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts next year.

Crude oil prices slumped on Monday as the U.S. dollar strengthened ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, which has largely been priced in. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $1.28 or 2.13 percent at $58.80 per barrel.