KOSPI May Slide Back Beneath 2,400-Point Level

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 35 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,415-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology, oil, chemical and automobile companies.

For the day, the index improved 28.61 points or 1.20 percent to finish at 2,416.96 after trading between 2,402.78 and 2,417.47. Volume was 492.72 million shares worth 7.73 trillion won. There were 530 decliners and 336 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 1.43 percent, while KB Financial improved 1.44 percent, Hana Financial skidded 1.19 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.33 percent, Samsung SDI jumped 2.09 percent, LG Electronics gained 0.79 percent, SK Hynix soared 3.95 percent, Naver skyrocketed 3.95 percent, LG Chem spiked 3.84 percent, Lotte Chemical increased 0.80 percent, S-Oil added 0.53 percent, SK Innovation rallied 2.62 percent, POSCO surged 3.45 percent, SK Telecom fell 0.41 percent, KEPCO dipped 0.39 percent, Hyundai Mobis gathered 0.47 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.56 percent and Kia Motors strengthened 1.54 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday and stayed that way until the FOMC announcement, which caused them to plummet.

The Dow plunged 530.49 points or 1.63 percent to finish at 32.030.11, while the NASDAQ tumbled 190.15 points or 1.60 percent to close at 11,669.96 and the S&P 500 sank 65.90 points or 1.65 percent to end at 3,936.97.

The late-day sell-off on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its decision to continue raising interest rates despite recent turmoil in the banking industry.

While the interest rate hike was widely expected, some traders may have been holding out hope the Fed would leave rates unchanged.

The central bank's latest projections suggest the Fed plans to raise rates just one more time this year to a range of 5.0 to 5.25 percent.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday after data showed that crude inventories rose by 1.117 million barrels last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $70.90 a barrel, gaining $1.23 or 1.8 percent.