South Korea Shares Poised To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 60 points or 2.2 percent to a 22-month closing high. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,685-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from technology and oil stocks. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the technology stocks, weakness from the financials and mixed performances from the industrials and chemicals.

For the day, the index advanced 19.00 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 2,685.84 after trading between 2,665.28 and 2,688.07. Volume was 401 million shares worth 9.35 trillion won. There were 439 decliners and 434 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial slumped 1.31 percent, while KB Financial stumbled 2.36 percent, Hana Financial eased 0.16 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.69 percent, Samsung SDI surged 4.47 percent, LG Electronics tanked 2.83 percent, SK Hynix jumped 1.92 percent, Naver skidded 1.07 percent, LG Chem rallied 1.51 percent, Lotte Chemical dropped 0.91 percent, S-Oil retreated 1.26 percent, SK Innovation spiked 2.40 percent, POSCO climbed 1.03 percent, SK Telecom perked 0.19 percent, KEPCO surrendered 2.21 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 0.37 percent, Hyundai Motor fell 0.41 percent and Kia Motors accelerated 2.40 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened solidly higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow advanced 75.66 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 38,790.43, while the NASDAQ jumped 130.27 points or 0.82 percent to close at 16,103.45 and the S&P 500 gained 32.33 points or 0.63 percent to end at 5,149.42.

Technology stocks led the rally on Wall Street, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ showing a strong move to the upside on gains from the likes of Alphabet (GOOGL) and Nvidia (NVDA).

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged after recent inflation readings have reduced optimism about a rate cut in June.

In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Home Builders reported an unexpected improvement in U.S. homebuilder confidence in March.

Oil prices moved higher Monday amid concerns about supply due to geopolitical risks following continued drone attacks by Ukraine on Russian oil refineries, as well as data showing a drop in crude exports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April jumped $1.68 or 2.1 percent at $82.72 a barrel.