KOSPI May Give Up Support At 2,600 Points

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Wednesday snapped the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 70 points or 2.7 percent. The KOSPI now rests just shy of the 2,610-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns that the outlook for interest rates may have been too optimistic. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday with profit taking across the board, especially among the financials, technology stocks an industrials.

For the day, the index tumbled 62.50 points or 2.34 percent to finish at 2,607.31. Volume was 455.9 million shares worth 9.99 trillion won. There were 610 decliners and 279 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tumbled 3.68 percent, while KB Financial slumped 1.87 percent, Hana Financial shed 1.05 percent, Samsung Electronics declined 3.27 percent, Samsung SDI plummeted 4.39 percent, LG Electronics fell 1.87 percent, SK Hynix tanked 3.93 percent, Naver skidded 2.42 percent, LG Chem sank 2.63 percent, Lotte Chemical weakened 1.23 percent, S-Oil retreated 2.04 percent, SK Innovation plunged 4.21 percent, POSCO stumbled 3.18 percent, SK Telecom lost 1.20 percent, KEPCO rallied 2.18 percent, Hyundai Mobis was down 3.60 percent, Hyundai Motor dropped 3.34 percent and Kia Motors surrendered 3.89 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 284.85 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 37,430.19, while the NASDAQ dropped 173.73 points or 1.18 percent to close at 14,592.21 and the S&P 500 sank 38.02 points or 0.80 percent to end at 4,704.81.

The continued weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns investors have become too optimistic about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts.

Stocks saw some further downside as the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting reiterated officials widely expect to begin lowering rates in 2024, but they also highlighted an "unusually elevated degree of uncertainty" about the outlook.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said U.S. manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly slower rate in December. Also, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. edged down from an upwardly revised level in November.

The price of crude oil moved rebounded on Wednesday, regaining ground on concerns about further attacks by Houthi militants against ships in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery surged $2.32 or 3.3 percent to $72.70 a barrel.