Losing Streak May Continue For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping nearly 200 points or 3 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 6,800-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative thanks to elevated treasury yields and concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially among the technology, semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical sectors.

For the day, the index tumbled 137.49 points or 1.98 percent to finish at 6,803.90. Volume was 256.76 million shares worth 19.69 trillion won. There were 525 decliners and 332 gainers.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday and stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 341.41 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 51,179.87, while the NASDAQ sank 61.20 points or 0.22 percent to end at 27,538.69 and the S&P 500 slipped 17.16 points or 0.22 percent to close at 7,801.77.

The weakness on Wall Street emerged after the benchmark ten-year treasury yield bounced back to its highest levels since 2002 - however, they eased as the day progressed, mitigating some of the markets' selling pressure.

Crude oil prices slumped again on Wednesday, unable to hold early gains after the International Energy Agency announced member states have expressed support for accelerating the oil stock releases. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $1.15 or 1.3 percent at $88.29 a barrel.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting, which confirmed most officials expect to once again raise interest rates before the end of the year.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide August current account data later this morning; in July, the current account surplus was $42.08 billion.