The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 60 points or 1.9 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 3,240-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, supported by crude oil prices and bargain hunting. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.
The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, industrials and technology stocks.
For the day, the index dropped 27.14 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 3,240.79 after trading between 3,225.56 and 3,264.18. Volume was 1.5 billion shares worth 17.1 trillion won. There were 725 decliners and 166 gainers.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial plunged 3.16 percent, while KB Financial retreated 2.99 percent, Hana Financial declined 1.77 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.75 percent, LG Electronics spiked 2.23 percent, SK Hynix tanked 2.01 percent, Samsung SDI climbed 1.04 percent, Naver dipped 0.25 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 1.28 percent, S-Oil added 0.50 percent, SK Innovation fell 0.54 percent, POSCO skidded 1.32 percent, SK Telecom surrendered 1.68 percent, KEPCO plummeted 6.88 percent, Hyundai Motor dropped 0.85 percent, Kia Motors was down 1.24 percent and LG Chem was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is solid as stocks opened mostly higher on Monday and only accelerated as the day progressed.
The Dow surged 586.89 points or 1.76 percent to finish at 33,876.97, while the NASDAQ climbed 111.10 points or 0.79 percent to end at 14,141.48 and the S&P 500 jumped 58.34 points or 1.40 percent to close at 4,224.79.
The rebound on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting after the steep drop seen last Friday dragged the Dow down to its lowest closing level in well over two months.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to testify before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis later today. Powell is due to discuss the Fed's response to the pandemic but could also face questions about the outlook for monetary policy.
Crude oil prices rose sharply Monday and lifted the most active WTI Crude futures contracts to their highest finish in more than two years amid rising optimism about energy demand. Weakness from the greenback also contributed as West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July rose $2.02 or 2.8 percent at $73.66 a barrel.
Closer to home, the Bank of Korea said this morning that producer prices were up 6.4 percent on year in May, accelerating from the upwardly revised 6.0 percent increase in April (originally 5.6 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices rose 0.4 percent, slowing from the upwardly revised 1.0 percent gain in the previous month (originally 0.6 percent).
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