South Korea Bourse Has Flat Lead For Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost 25 points or 1 percent in that span. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,400-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of a possible U.S. government shutdown. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the technology and chemical companies, while the financials and industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index fell 5.90 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 2,403.76 after trading between 2,399.04 and 2,435.32. Volume was 299.3 million shares worth 5.8 trillion won. There were 592 decliners and 283 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.28 percent, while KB Financial slumped 1.12 percent, Samsung Electronics eased 0.14 percent, Samsung SDI sank 0.71 percent, LG Electronics tumbled 1.54 percent, SK Hynix advanced 1.00 percent, Naver skidded 1.08 percent, LG Chem shed 0.87 percent, Lotte Chemical dropped 0.97 percent, S-Oil improved 0.75 percent, SK Innovation and Hyundai Motor both dipped 0.23 percent, POSCO climbed 1.01 percent, SK Telecom added 0.60 percent, KEPCO skyrocketed 5.43 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 0.67 percent and Kia Motors and Hana Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened sharply lower on Monday before recovering to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 54.77 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 34,337.87, while the NASDAQ slipped 30.36 points or 0.22 percent to close at 13,767.74 and the S&P 500 fell 3.69 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,411.55.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as some traders looked to cash in on last week's rally, which lifted the tech-heavy NASDAQ to a nearly two-month closing high.

Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to news credit rating agency Moody's has lowered its outlook for the U.S. credit rating to negative from stable amid concerns about a possible government shutdown.

The selling pressure was offset by a New York Federal Reserve report showing a modest decrease in consumer inflation expectations, sparking optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.

Crude oil prices moved up on Monday, gaining for a third straight session amid some optimism about the outlook for energy demand, as well as a weaker dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $1.09 or 1.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.