More Pain Predicted For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has fallen lower in four straight sessions, tumbling almost 150 points or 6.3 percent along the way. Now at a two-year closing low, the KOSPI sits just above the 2,220-point plateau and it may sink further still on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be soft on concerns about interest rates and the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were down again and the Asian markets, despite being badly oversold at this point, are expected to at least open in the red.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Monday with heavy damage across the board, particularly among the financials, technology stocks, industrials and oil and chemical companies.

For the day, the index plunged 69.06 points or 3.02 percent to finish at 2,220.94 after trading between 2,215.36 and 2,260.80. Volume was 611.4 million shares worth 9.18 trillion won. There were 891 decliners and 34 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial sank 4.33 percent, while KB Financial plunged 5.97 percent, Hana Financial dropped 4.21 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 1.10 percent, LG Electronics tumbled 3.65 percent, SK Hynix slid 1.20 percent, Naver fell 2.85 percent, LG Chem crashed 5.46 percent, Lotte Chemical tanked 3.89 percent, S-Oil plummeted 6.21 percent, SK Innovation declined 3.65 percent, POSCO surrendered 4.87 percent, SK Telecom jumped 1.52 percent, KEPCO rallied 2.53 percent, Hyundai Mobis stumbled 3.15 percent, Hyundai Motor slumped 4.20 percent and Kia Motors lost 3.61 percent.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be negative as the major averages were unable to hold early support on Monday, accelerating to the downside as the day progressed.

The Dow tumbled 329.60 points or 1.11 percent to finish at 29.260.81, while the NASDAQ dropped 65.00 points or 0.60 percent to close at 10.802.92 and the S&P 500 fell 38.19 points or 1.03 percent to end at 3,655.04.

A continued surge in the value of the U.S. dollar contributed to the weakness on Wall Street, with the greenback hitting a record high versus the British pound.

Concerns about the outlook for the global economy also continued to weigh on the markets amid worries the increases in interest rates around the world will lead to a recession. The Fed and other central banks have indicated they plan to continue raising rates in an effort to combat stubbornly elevated inflation.

The extended weakness on Wall Street also came amid a spike in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note soaring to a 12-year high.

Crude oil prices tumbled to near nine-month lows on Monday, extending losses from the previous session amid rising concerns about the outlook for fuel demand due to increasing possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $2.03 or 2.6 percent at $76.71 a barrel.