KOSPI May See Continued Consolidation

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Wednesday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 40 points or 1.1 percent. The KOSPI sits just above the 3,485-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with technology shares expected to fall under pressure. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and chemicals. For the day, the index shed 14.05 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 3,472.14 after trading between 3,442.41 and 3,497.95. Volume was 281 million shares worth 11.3 trillion won. There were 684 decliners and 192 gainers. Among the actives, Shinhan Financial slumped 1.14 percent, while KB Financial eased 0.09 percent, Hana Financial shed 0.45 percent, Samsung Electronics improved 0.83 percent, Samsung SDI stumbled 3.09 percent, LG Electronics plunged 3.48 percent, SK Hynix dropped 0.97 percent, Naver retreated 1.30 percent, LG Chem tanked 2.65 percent, Lotte Chemical skidded 1.09 percent, SK Innovation declined 1.25 percent, POSCO Holdings sank 0.72 percent, SK Telecom perked 0.18 percent, KEPCO was up 0.14 percent, Hyundai Mobis weakened 1.28 percent, Hyundai Motor lost 0.68 percent and Kia Motors added 0.19 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but gradually turned lower and finished solidly in the red.

The Dow shed 171.50 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 46,121.28, while the NASDAQ lost 75.62 points or 0.33 percent to close at 22,497.86 and the S&P 500 sank 18.95 points or 0.28 percent to end at 6,637.97.

The extended pullback on Wall Street may have reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the artificial intelligence trade following Tuesday's weakness.

AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) slid by 0.9 percent after tumbling by 2.8 percent on Tuesday, while fellow AI player Oracle (ORCL) slumped by 1.7 percent.

Concerns about valuations may also have continued to weigh on the markets after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggesting he believes stocks may be overvalued.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday due to the increasing likelihood of Russian oil exports facing heavy U.S. sanctions. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for November delivery was up $1.61 or 2.54 percent at $65.02 per barrel.