South Korea Shares May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking almost 50 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 3,560-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is tempered by concerns over the growing economic conflict between the United States and China. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses are likely to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the financial shares and telecoms were offset by support from the industrials and chemical companies.

For the day, the index sank 22.74 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 3,561.81 after trading between 3,535.52 and 3,646.77. Volume was 727.3 million shares worth 18.6 trillion won. There were 562 decliners and 315 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial surrendered 2.84 percent, while KB Financial shed 0.63 percent, Hana Financial skidded 1.06 percent, Samsung Electronics stumbled 1.82 percent, Samsung SDI soared 3.61 percent, LG Electronics rallied 2.47 percent, SK Hynix sank 0.84 percent, Naver tumbled 1.71 percent, LG Chem surged 5.14 percent, SK Innovation and Lotte Chemical both spiked 2.12 percent, POSCO Holdings jumped 2.02 percent, SK Telecom slumped 1.29 percent, KEPCO skyrocketed 5.60 percent, Hyundai Mobis expanded 3.63 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.06 percent and Kia Motors improved 1.38 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday but ticked steadily higher before finally finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 202.88 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 46.270.46, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.91 points or 0.76 percent to close at 22,521.70 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.41 points or 0.16 percent to end at 6,644.31.

The late-day pullback on Wall Street came as a post by President Donald Trump reinforced earlier concerns about trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

Trump accused China of an "economically hostile act" by purposefully not buying U.S. soybeans and threatened to terminate business with China having to do with cooking oil and other elements of trade as retribution.

The selling pressure was partly offset by upbeat earnings news from big-name financial companies, including Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

Crude oil prices pulled back sharply on Tuesday as renewed trade tensions between the U.S. and China have heightened, while forecasts predicting low demand in the months ahead also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $0.70 or 1.18 percent at $58.79 per barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide September numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning. Imports are expected to jump 8.2 percent on year after slumping 4.1 percent in August. Exports are called higher by an annual 12.7 percent after rising 1.2 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $9.56 billion, roughly unchanged from a month earlier.