Renewed Support Seen For KOSPI

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday ended the wo-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 200 points or 5 percent on its way to a fresh record closing high. The KOSPI now sits just above the 4,010-point plateau and it's expected to tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mildly positive ahead of the U.S. interest rate decision later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index sank 32.42 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 4,010.41. Volume was 405.3 million shares worth 19.5 trillion won. There were 499 decliners and 379 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.67 percent, while KB Financial slumped 1.36 percent, Hana Financial and LG Electronics both perked 0.11 percent, Samsung Electronics stumbled 2.45 percent, Samsung SDI skyrocketed 9.47 percent, SK Hynix contracted 2.62 percent, Naver improved 0.80 percent, LG Chem rallied 2.35 percent, Lotte Chemical fell 0.41 percent, SK Innovation added 0.53 percent, POSCO Holdings gained 0.63 percent, KEPCO jumped 2.33 percent, Hyundai Mobis dipped 0.16 percent, Hyundai Motor declined 1.57 percent, Kia Motors dropped 1.05 percent and SK Telecom was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending at fresh record closing highs.

The Dow climbed 161.78 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 47,706.37, while the NASDAQ jumped 190.04 points or 0.80 percent to close at 23,827.49 and the S&P added 15.73 points or 0.23 percent to end at 6,890.89.

The strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from recent upward momentum amid optimism about a potential trade deal between the U.S. and China.

However, traders seemed somewhat reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, traders will look to the accompanying statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Tuesday on news that OPEC is leaning toward another modest increase in production in December. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery plunged $1.32 or 2.2 percent to $59.99 a barrel.