South Korea Shares May Hand Back Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had slipped almost 20 points or 0.8 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,495-point plateau and it's likely to face renewed consolidation on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week, while slumping oil prices also may weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Wednesday following gains from the automobile companies, weakness from the oil stocks and mixed performances from the financials and technology shares.

For the day, the index perked 1.10 points or 0.04 percent to finish at the daily low of 2,495.38 after peaking at 2,509.67. Volume was 384.3 million shares worth 7.51 trillion won. There were 499 gainers and 371 decliners.

Among the actives, KB Financial collected 0.97 percent, while Samsung Electronics improved 0.70 percent, Samsung SDI plunged 2.36 percent, LG Electronics slumped 1.09 percent, SK Hynix slipped 0.24 percent, Naver rose 0.23 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.74 percent, S-Oil stumbled 1.75 percent, SK Innovation fell 0.30 percent, POSCO tumbled 1.95 percent, SK Telecom rallied 1.59 percent, KEPCO eased 0.05 percent, Hyundai Mobis sank 0.67 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 0.83 percent, Kia Motors added 0.48 percent and Shinhan Financial, Hana Financial and LG Chem were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major average opened higher on Wednesday but couldn't hold the gains and eventually finished under water.

The Dow dropped 70.13 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 36,054.43, while the NASDAQ sank 83.20 points or 0.58 percent to end at 14,146.71 and the S&P 500 lost 17.84 points or 0.39 percent to close at 4,549.34.

The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of a report from payroll processor ADP showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by less than expected in November.

The weaker than expected private sector job growth added to recent optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.

However, stocks retreated as traders chose to lighten commitments due to concerns about possible overbought conditions in the market ahead of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday, extending losses to a fifth straight day after data showed a large increase in gasoline inventories in the U.S. last week, raising concerns about the outlook for fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $2.94 or 4.1 percent at $69.38 a barrel.