The South Korea stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 40 points or 1.4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,775-point plateau and it\'s likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is a mixed bag, with weakness among the financials and oil companies likely countered by support from the technology shares. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the technology stocks and industrials were capped by weakness from the financial sector.
For the day, the index gained 9.66 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 2,774.39. Volume was 703.6 million shares worth 11.4 trillion won. There were 492 gainers and 375 decliners.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial skidded 1.15 percent, while KB Financial stumbled 1.25 percent, Hana Financial climbed 1.00 percent, Samsung Electronics rose 0.24 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 2.38 percent, LG Electronics improved 0.82 percent, SK Hynix advanced 0.90 percent, Naver slumped 1.48 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.40 percent, Lotte Chemical gained 0.61 percent, S-Oil increased 0.45 percent, SK Innovation declined 1.29 percent, POSCO perked 0.14 percent, SK Telecom dipped 0.19 percent, Hyundai Mobis surged 5.25 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.67 percent, Kia Motors added 0.55 percent and KEPCO was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street remains divergent as the major averages opened mixed and finished the same way.
The Dow tumbled 299.05 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 39,112.16, while the NASDAQ rallied 220.84 points or 1.26 percent to close at 17,717.65 and the S&P 500 gained 21.43 points or 0.39 percent to end at 5,469.30.
The session-long strength in the tech-heavy NASDAQ was fueled by a rebound of Nvidia stocks after recent losses. Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Apple Inc., Eli Lilly, Micron Technology also posted strong gains.
Boeing, Nike, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Pfizer, McDonalds Corporation, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Home Depot and Johnson & Johnson declined sharply, weighing on the Dow.
In economic news, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, which measures overall economic activity and inflationary pressure, rose in May for the first time in three months. Also, the Conference Board said consumer confidence in the U.S. eased slightly in June.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday as traders booked some profits ahead of crucial U.S. inflation data due later in the week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.80 or nearly 1 percent at $80.83 a barrel.