KOSPI May Reclaim 8,500-Point Level

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday snapped the two-day slide in which it had given up more than 530 points or 6.5 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 8,475-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to sliding oil prices and support from the technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index gained 81.83 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 8,476.48.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened mixed but quickly picked up steam to finish solidly in positive territory.

The Dow gained 136.46 points or 0.26 percent to finish at a record 52,319.20, while the NASDAQ jumped 393.57 points or 1.52 percent to end at 26,213.72 and the S&P 500 improved 58.93 points or 0.79 percent to close at 7,499.36.

The strength on Wall Street came as technology stocks continued to regain ground following the sharp pullback seen last week. Semiconductor stocks helped to lead the way higher once again, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index spiking 3.9 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped amid conflicting messages about a new round of talks between the U.S. and Iran. While President Donald Trump claimed a meeting is set to be held in Qatar, a spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry reportedly denied that talks were scheduled.

With increasing tanker traffic across the Strait of Hormuz eased supply concerns, West Texas Intermediate was down $1.29 or 1.82 percent at $69.46 per barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will see June data for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning; in May, imports were up 20.7 percent on year and exports rose an annual 53.4 percent for a trade surplus of $27.04 billion.