The South Korea stock market has finished higher in four straight sessions, surging more than 120 points or 3.9 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 3,250-point plateau although investors are likely to cash in on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian is soft, with technology stocks expected to lead the markets lower - although crude oil prices offer mild support. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were negative and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index jumped 52.10 points or 1.63 percent to finish at a record closing high of 3,249.30 after trading between 3,201.46 and 3,255.90. Volume was 996 million shares worth 16.9 trillion won. There were 690 gainers and 180 decliners.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial spiked 3.01 percent, while KB Financial improved 2.06 percent, Hana Financial collected 1.08 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.59 percent, LG Electronics rose 0.33 percent, SK Hynix added 0.39 percent, Naver rose 0.28 percent, LG Chem sank 0.76 percent, Lotte Chemical lost 0.32 percent, S-Oil soared 2.22 percent, SK Innovation retreated 1.59 percent, POSCO rallied 2.26 percent, SK Telecom strengthened 2.08 percent, KEPCO gained 0.62 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.46 percent and Kia Motors surged 2.85 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Monday but all ended up in the red as the session progressed.
The Dow fell 34.94 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,742.82, while the NASDAQ plummeted 350.38 points or 2.55 percent to end at 13,401.86 and the S&P 500 sank 44.17 points or 1.04 percent to close at 4,188.43.
The steep drop by the NASDAQ came amid weakness among technology stocks following negative analyst comments about several big-name companies including Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Facebook (FB) and Oracle (ORCL).
Concerns about the outlook for inflation may also have weighed on the markets amid an increase in commodities prices.
Crude oil futures were marginally higher Monday on news of the shutdown of critical fuel supply pipelines in the U.S. following a major cyberattack. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up $0.02 or 0.02 percent at $64.92 a barrel.
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