Renewed Support Anticipated For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market ticked lower again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 35 points or 1.4 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,500-point plateau although it figures to bounce higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive as U.S. inflation data eased concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished solidly higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished barely lower on Wednesday following losses from the industrials and mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 0.59 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 2,496.81 after trading between 2,493.10 and 2,524.36. Volume was 525.6 million shares worth 9 trillion won. There were 592 decliners and 270 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial strengthened 1.62 percent, while KB Financial climbed 1.24 percent, Hana Financial fell 0.34 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.37 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 2.11 percent, SK Hynix jumped 1.64 percent, Naver spiked 2.23 percent, LG Chem tumbled 1.84 percent, SK Innovation retreated 1.65 percent, POSCO Holdings dropped 0.96 percent, SK Telecom lost 0.54 percent, KEPCO climbed 1.24 percent, Hyundai Motor sank 0.68 percent, Kia Motors plunged 3.19 percent and LG Electronics, Lotte Chemical and Hyundai Mobis were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened firmly higher and stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow surged 703.27 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 43,221.55, while the NASDAQ rallied 466.84 points or 2.45 percent to close at 19,511.23 and the S&P 500 jumped 107.00 points or 1.83 percent to end at 5,949.91.

The rally on Wall Street was a positive reaction to the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation in December. While the report showed consumer prices rose slightly more than expected in December, the annual rate of core consumer price growth unexpectedly slowed.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from financial giants JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C).

Oil prices spiked Wednesday as crude inventories in the U.S. dropped last week, while possible supply disruptions due to new sanctions against Russia also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February rose $2.54 or 3.3 percent at $80.04 a barrel.

Closer to home, the Bank of Korea will wrap up its monetary policy meeting this morning, announce its decision on interest rates and set meeting dates; the bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 3.00 percent.