Renewed Support Anticipated For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Monday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 35 points or 1.4 percent. The KOSPI market now rests just beneath the 2,465-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over upcoming earnings, especially among the technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the chemicals and industrials, while the financials and technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index slipped 8.39 points or 0.34 percent to finish at the daily low of 2,464.35 after peaking at 2,490.69. Volume was 376 million shares worth 8.25 trillion won. There were 575 decliners and 295 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.95 percent, while KB Financial shed 0.40 percent, Hana Financial perked 0.12 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.54 percent, Samsung SDI plunged 4.28 percent, LG Electronics sank 0.65 percent, SK Hynix advanced 0.92 percent, Naver gained 0.70 percent, LG Chem tanked 4.33 percent, Lotte Chemical slumped 2.10 percent, S-Oil stumbled 1.80 percent, SK Innovation plummeted 4.67 percent, POSCO tumbled 3.86 percent, KEPCO rallied 2.22 percent, Hyundai Mobis dipped 0.30 percent, Hyundai Motor dropped 0.88 percent, Kia Motors lost 0.46 percent and SK Telecom was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened solidly higher, with the Dow and S&P hitting fresh record intraday highs; they faded as the day progressed but still ended well in the green.

The Dow climbed 138.01 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 38,001.81, while the NASDAQ gained 49.32 points or 0.32 percent to close at 15,360.29 and the S&P 500 rose 10.62 points or 0.22 percent to end at 4,850.43.

The early strength on Wall Street came on continued optimism about the outlook for earnings from major tech firms, with Intel (INTC), IBM Corp. (IBM) and Netflix (NFLX) among the companies due to release their quarterly results this week.

In economic news, the Conference Board noted a modest decrease in its index of leading U.S. economic indicators in December, continuing to signal underlying weakness in the U.S. economy.

Oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid concerns about possible supply disruptions in the Middle East, and extreme cold weather in North America. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $75.19 a barrel, gaining $1.78 or about 2.4 percent.