Lower Open Projected For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long weekend for the Chuseok Festival, the South Korea stock market had halted the four-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 60 points or 2.5 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,465-point plateau and it's expected to return to action to the downside on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on rising concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the industrials were capped by weakness from the financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index perked 2.10 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 2,465.07 after trading between 2,445.51 and 2,469.72. Volume was 354.97 million shares worth 6.26 trillion won. There were 629 gainers and 547 decliners.

Among the actives, KB Financial sank 0.72 percent, while Hana Financial shed 0.35 percent, Samsung Electronics slid 0.29 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 1.92 percent, LG Electronics gathered 0.20 percent, SK Hynix fell 0.26 percent, Naver was up 0.25 percent, LG Chem tumbled 1.68 percent, Lotte Chemical lost 0.51 percent, S-Oil jumped 1.93 percent, SK Innovation dropped 0.53 percent, POSCO rose 0.38 percent, SK Telecom advanced 0.97 percent, KEPCO collected 0.22 percent, Hyundai Mobis slumped 0.62 percent, Hyundai Motor perked 0.21 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 0.62 percent and Shinhan Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and continued to sink as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plunged 430.97 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 33,002.38, while the NASDAQ tumbled 248.31 points or 1.87 percent to close at 13,059.47 and the S&P 500 sank 58.94 points or 1.37 percent to end at 4,229.45.

The sell-off on Wall Street followed a report from the Labor Department unexpectedly showing a notable increase in U.S. job openings in August.

The data added to interest rate concerns amid worries strength in the labor market could convince the Federal Reserve to raise rates higher than had been anticipated and keep rates an elevated level for longer than expected.

The interest rate worries contributed to a continued surge by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note jumping to its highest level in 16 years.

Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday on optimism that OPEC+ won't change its production policy at the committee's meeting later today. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $89.23 a barrel.