Win Streak May Continue For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has tracked higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 200 points or 5 percent in that span. The KOSPI sits just above the 4,150-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Thursday.

The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and industrial stocks, while the technology companies were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 44.00 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 4,150.39. Volume was 327.08 million shares worth 15.43 trillion won. There were 785 gainers and 118 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 4.36 percent, while KB Financial collected 3.06 percent, Hana Financial vaulted 3.77 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.39 percent, Samsung SDI dipped 0.16 percent, LG Electronics jumped 2.54 percent, SK Hynix fell 0.32 percent, Naver perked 0.19 percent, LG Chem tumbled 1.50 percent, Lotte Chemical skyrocketed 14.91 percent, SK Innovation soared 3.43 percent, SK Telecom slid 0.18 percent, KEPCO plunged 3.83 percent, Hyundai Mobis added 0.50 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.42 percent and Kia Motors spiked 2.24 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is contradictory as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but took different paths to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow jumped 326.86 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 48,254.82, while the NASDAQ slipped 61.84 points or 0.26 percent to close at 23,406.46 and the S&P 500 rose 4.31 points or 0.06 percent to end at 6,850.92.

The continued advance by the Dow came amid strong gains by UnitedHealth (UNH), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Cisco Systems (CSCO). But continued decline by the tech-heavy NASDAQ reflected lingering valuation concerns.

Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington, where the House of Representatives will vote on a bill ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

After the Senate voted Monday to approve the bill extending funding for most agencies until January 30, the House is set to vote on the legislation within the next few hours.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Wednesday after OPEC's monthly report suggested that global supply now exceeds demand by about 500,000 barrels per day. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $2.62 or 4.31 percent at $58.40 per barrel.