Soft Start Expected For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after ending the four-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 220 points or 5.5 percent. The KOSPI sits just beneath the 4,090-point plateau although it's expected to turn lower again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on valuation concerns, especially among technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the technology stocks, weakness from the financials and chemicals and a mixed picture from the industrial stocks.

For the day, the index jumped 77.68 points or 1.94 percent, to close at 4,089.25 after trading between 4,045.40 and 4,089.88. Volume was 337.99 million shares worth 14.1 trillion won. There were 490 decliners and 392 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tumbled 1.76 percent, while KB Financial tanked 2.08 percent, Hana Financial retreated 1.38 percent, Samsung Electronics rallied 3.50 percent, Samsung SDI added 0.63 percent, LG Electronics strengthened 1.33 percent, SK Hynix skyrocketed 8.21 percent, Naver gained 0.59 percent, LG Chem declined 1.35 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.82 percent, SK Innovation expanded 1.38 percent, POSCO Holdings perked 0.16 percent, SK Telecom lost 0.56 percent, KEPCO accelerated 4.01 percent, Hyundai Mobis slumped 1.34 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.37 percent and Kia Motors rose 0.34 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages spent the first half of Monday's trade relatively flat before tumbling in the afternoon, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow tumbled 557.24 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 46,590.24, while the NASDAQ dropped 192.51 points or 0.84 percent to close at 22,708.07 and the S&P 500 sank 61.70 points or 0.92 percent to end at 6,672.41.

The weakness on Wall Street came as valuation concerns resurfaced ahead of the release of quarterly results from Nvidia (NVDA) after the markets close on Wednesday.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of U.S. economic data that was delayed due to the government shutdown. While the reports will be backward looking, the data could still impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting in December.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Tuesday as long-term oversupply concerns of a supply-demand mismatch continue to linger. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery dipped $0.09 or 0.13 percent at $60.01 per barrel.