KOSPI May Spin Its Wheels On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Monday snapped the two-day slide in which it had given up more than 280 points or 4.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 5,860-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with tech weakness countered by sinking oil prices. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the construction, machinery, metal, technology and shipbuilding sectors.

For the day, the index jumped 128.34 points or 2.24 percent to finish at 5,859.08 after peaking at 5,910.83. Volume was 186.4 million shares worth 14.9 trillion won. There were 651 gainers and 229 decliners.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspiring as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded throughout the session before ending mixed.

The Dow climbed 213.67 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 51,983.98, while the NASDAQ tumbled 272.68 points or 1.07 percent to close at 25,164.32 and the S&P 500 shed 38.67 points or 0.51 percent to end at 7,541.40.

The significant downturn by the NASDAQ came amid continued weakness among tech stocks, as worries about the outlook for the artificial intelligence weighed on the sector once again.

Outside of the tech sector, energy stocks moved sharply lower along with the price of crude oil, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Oil Index down by 5.1 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Monday on reports that discussions are ongoing to settle the conflict between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $7.76 or 7.45 percent at $96.36 per barrel.

In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing its reading on U.S. manufacturing activity increased by more than expected in the month of October.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide October data for consumer prices later this morning; in September, inflation was up 0.3 percent on month and 2.9 percent on year.