Tech Shares May Fuel KOSPI On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 60 points or 2.5 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,450-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after the Federal Reserve didn't raise its benchmark lending rate more than expected on Wednesday. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were firmly higher and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index climbed 24.72 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 2,449.80 after trading between 2,433.37 and 2,453.29. Volume was 651 million shares worth 8.4 trillion won. There were 512 gainers and 347 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 2.17 percent, while KB Financial spiked 2.68 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.92 percent, Samsung Electronics strengthened 1.31 percent, Samsung SDI surged 5.11 percent, LG Electronics declined 1.00 percent, SK Hynix soared 3.28 percent, Naver added 1.48 percent, LG Chem dipped 0.29 percent, Lotte Chemical accelerated 1.64 percent, S-Oil eased 0.11 percent, SK Innovation skyrocketed 5.24 percent, POSCO advanced 1.00 percent, SK Telecom dropped 0.97 percent, KEPCO sank 0.91 percent, Hyundai Mobis gained 1.22 percent, Hyundai Motor jumped 1.80 percent and Kia Motors rallied 4.04 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday and spent most of the day that way before a late push bumped them into the green.

The Dow rose 6.92 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 23,092.96, while the NASDAQ surged 231.77 points or 2.00 percent to close at 11,816.32 and the S&P 500 jumped 42.61 points or 1.05 percent to end at 4,119.21.

The late-day rally on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to raise interest rates by another quarter point and signaled further rate hikes. The latest interest rate hike comes after the central bank raised rates by 75 basis points in November and by 50 basis points in December.

The Fed also said it anticipates ongoing increases in interest rates will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector job growth slowed more than expected in January. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted for the third consecutive month in January.

Oil prices fell to a three-week low on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing an increase in crude inventories last week in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $2.46 or 3.1 percent at $76.41 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will see January figures for consumer prices later this morning, with forecasts calling for an increase of 0.5 percent on month and 5.0 percent on year. That follows the 0.2 percent monthly increase and the 5.0 percent yearly gain in December.