Tech Shares Expected To Boost South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Monday halted the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 35 points or 1.4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2555-point plateau and it's expected to extend its gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on an improved outlook for interest rates and support from technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the financial shares and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the chemical and industrial companies.

For the day, the index gained 9.20 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 2,556.88. Volume was 406.6 million shares worth 8.21 trillion won. There were 507 gainers and 355 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial spiked 1.96 percent, while KB Financial rallied 2.03 percent, Hana Financial collected 1.37 percent, Samsung Electronics improved 0.71 percent, Samsung SDI plummeted 2.72 percent, LG Electronics added 0.40 percent, SK Hynix jumped 1.93 percent, Naver retreated 1.63 percent, LG Chem lost 0.53 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.79 percent, S-Oil advanced 0.90 percent, SK Innovations tumbled 1.81 percent, POSCO plunged 2.23 percent, SK Telekom perked 0.10 percent, KEPCO dropped 0.98 percent, Hyundai Mobis tanked 2.12 percent, Hyundai Motor eased 0.11 percent and Kia Company fell 0.26 percent.

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

The Dow advanced 87.13 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 34,663.72, while the NASDAQ spiked 156.37 points or 1.14 percent to close at 13,917.89 and the S&P 500 gained 29.97 points or 0.67 percent to end at 4,487.46.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ received a boost from a surge by shares of Tesla (TSLA), with the electric car maker spiking by 10.1 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the company's stock to Overweight from Equal-Weight.

The overall strength on Wall Street partly reflected easing concerns about the outlook for interest rates after reports suggested a shift in Federal Reserve officials' stance on rates.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 93.0 chance the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged next week. The outlook for November is a little more uncertain, however, with the FedWatch Tool indicating a 54.5 percent chance rates will remain unchanged and a 42.6 percent chance of another quarter point rate hike.

Crude oil prices fell on Monday, retreating from last week's 10-month highs on concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.22 or 0.3 percent at $87.29 a barrel.