Soft Start Anticipated For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Monday, one session after snapping the three-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 45 points or 1.1 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 4,090-point plateau and it may remain stuck in neutral on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, with weakness from the technology and oil sectors limiting the upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index tumbled 76.57 points or 1.84 percent to finish at 4,090.59 after trading between 4,052.65 and 4,123.19. Volume was 344 million shares worth 15.3 trillion won. There were 529 decliners and 350 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.64 percent, while KB Financial dropped 0.95 percent, Hana Financial skidded 0.97 percent, Samsung Electronics plunged 3.76 percent, Samsung SDI tumbled 1.62 percent, LG Electronics sank 0.73 percent, SK Hynix tanked 2.98 percent, Naver retreated 1.64 percent, LG Chem lost 0.67 percent, Lotte Chemical fell 0.40 percent, SK Innovation slumped 0.88 percent, POSCO Holdings slid 0.47 percent, SK Telecom contracted 0.74 percent, KEPCO added 0.50 percent, Hyundai Mobis surrendered 3.44 percent, Hyundai Motor stumbled 2.65 percent and Kia Motors declined 1.43 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but quickly slipped under water and spent the balance of the day hugging the line from below.

The Dow slumped 41.49 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 48,416.56, while the NASDAQ dropped 137.76 points or 0.59 percent to end at 23,057.41 and the S&P 500 sank 10.90 points or 0.16 percent to close at 6,816.51.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came on continued uncertainty about AI spending and the possibility of a tech bubble.

Traders were also reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key U.S. economic data in the coming days, including retail sales and inflation.

The data could impact the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last Wednesday. While the Fed cut rates by another quarter point, as widely expected, officials' projections showed significant differences of opinion about further rate cuts.

The price of crude oil retreated on Monday as lingering oversupply concerns offset worries about potential supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.62 or 1.1 percent to $56.82 per barrel.