South Korea Stock Market May Extend Wednesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Wednesday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 40 points or 1.6 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,500-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on sliding oil prices and renewed uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates. 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 modestly lower on Wednesday following losses among the financial shares, technology stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index dropped 22.99 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 2,501.40 after trading between 2,497.83 and 2,514.37. Volume was 877.4 million shares worth 9.72 trillion won. There were 524 decliners and 341 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial retreated 1.69 percent, while KB Financial plunged 2.42 percent, Hana Financial tumbled 2.00 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.46 percent, LG Electronics eased 0.18 percent, SK Hynix slid 0.44 percent, Naver slumped 0.31 percent, LG Chem tanked 2.68 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.81 percent, S-Oil stumbled 2.02 percent, SK Innovation plunged 2.28 percent, POSCO and SK Telecom both lost 0.52 percent, KEPCO declined 1.21 percent, Hyundai Mobis dropped 0.90 percent, Hyundai Motor dipped 0.25 percent and Kia Motors fell 0.46 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages spent much of the day hugging the unchanged line before sinking late in afternoon.

The Dow tumbled 270.29 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 33,414.24, while the NASDAQ lost 55.18 points or 0.46 percent to end at 12,025.33 and the S&P 500 sank 28.83 points or 0.70 percent to close at 4,090.75.

The lower close on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to raise interest rates by another quarter-point but appeared to signal a potential pause in rate hikes.

However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments during his post-meeting press conference led to renewed uncertainty about the outlook for rates.

Powell said the central bank would take a "data-dependent approach" to future monetary policy decisions and stressed a decision on a pause was not made at the meeting.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday amid concerns about economic growth and the outlook for energy demand, as well as data showing an increase in gasoline inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down $3.06 or 4.3 percent at $68.60 a barrel, the lowest settlement since March 24.