The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 20 points or 0.6 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 3,225-point plateau although it may spin its wheels again on Tuesday.
The global forecast is mixed to lower, with crude oil prices and covid concerns expected to weigh on sentiment. The European were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the automobile producers and oil and chemical companies were limited by weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.
For the day, the index advanced 20.72 points or 0.65 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,223.04 after moving as low as 3,194.00. Volume was 554 million shares worth 10.1 trillion won. There were 501 decliners and 329 gainers.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial retreated 1.40 percent, while KB Financial shed 0.78 percent, Hana Financial declined 1.50 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.02 percent, LG Electronics sank 0.63 percent, SK Hynix soared 3.11 percent, LG Chem rallied 2.61 percent, Lotte Chemical accelerated 2.70 percent, S-Oil was up 0.10 percent, SK Innovation gathered 1.19 percent, POSCO tumbled 1.77 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.33 percent, KEPCO jumped 2.01 percent, Hyundai Motor advanced 0.92 percent, Kia Motors improved 1.32 percent and Naver was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened firmly higher on Monday but faded as the session progressed - finally ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow shed 97.31 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 34,838.16, while the NASDAQ rose 8.39 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,681.07 and the S&P 500 fell 8.10 points or 0.18 percent to close at 4,387.16.
The early strength on Wall Street reflected optimism about the outlook for the economy amid indications the Federal Reserve is not in a hurry to begin scaling back stimulus.
Positive sentiment may also have been generated after a bipartisan group of Senators unveiled a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure package.
However, buying interest waned after the Institute for Supply Management noted an unexpected slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing activity in July. Also, the Commerce Department said construction spending crept up by less than expected in June.
Crude oil prices fell sharply Monday due to rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid a surge in the delta variant of the coronavirus in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September plunged $2.69 or 3.6 percent at $71.26 a barrel.
Closer to home, South Korea will provide July figures for consumer prices later this morning, with forecasts calling for a flat monthly reading and an increase of 2.4 percent on year. That follows the 0.1 percent monthly decline and the 2.4 percent yearly gain in June.
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