Tech Shares May Weigh On South Korea Stocks

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday halted the five-day winning streak in which it had skyrocketed more than 1,225 points or 16.9 percent to a fresh record closing high. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 7,650-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on surging oil prices and weakness among technology stocks. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets also figure to open to the downside.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower across the board on profit taking, especially among the chemical and technology companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 179.09 points or 2.29 percent to finish at 7,643.15 after trading between 7,421.71 and 7,999.67. Volume was 1.02 million shares worth 66.6 trillion won. There were 731 decliners and 145 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.51 percent, while KB Financial surrendered 3.27 percent, Hana Financial contracted 2.76 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 2.28 percent, Samsung SDI plummeted 8.04 percent, LG Electronics surged 18 percent, SK Hynix tanked 2.39 percent, Naver stumbled 3.55 percent, LG Chem plunged 8.26 percent, Lotte Chemical cratered 16.34 percent, SK Innovation retreated 3.17 percent, POSCO Holdings crashed 6.45 percent, SK Telecom soared 5.30 percent, KEPCO dropped 4.51 percent, Hyundai Mobis sank 0.90 percent, Kia Motors lost 3.66 percent and Hyundai Motor was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened lower but trended higher as the session progressed, with the Dow finally peaking into positive territory by the day's end.

The Dow rose 56.09 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 49,760.56, while the NASDAQ sank 185.92 points or 0.71 percent to end at 26,088.20 and the S&P 500 dipped 11.88 points or 0.16 percent to close at 7,400.96.

An extended surge by the price of crude oil contributed to the early sell-off on Wall Street, with U.S. crude oil futures soaring by more than 4 percent and jumping back above $100 a barrel.

The continued increase by the price of crude oil comes as the U.S. and Iran struggle to reach an agreement to end the war and reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.

The weakness on Wall Street also came following the release of a report from the Labor Department showing the fastest annual rate of consumer price growth since May 2023 - making any rate cuts in the near future extremely unlikely.