The South Korea stock market turned lower again on Tuesday, one day after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 55 points or 2.1 percent. The KOSPI now sits just shy of the 2,725-point plateau and it\'s likely to remain rangebound again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of the next round of economic data, and skepticism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The KOSPI finished barely lower on Tuesday following losses from the chemicals and automobile companies, while the financials and technology sectors were mixed.
For the day, the index eased 0.14 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 2,722.85. Volume was 432 million shares worth 11.3 trillion won. There were 467 decliners and 401 gainers.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial and Hana Financial both dropped 0.96 percent, while KB Financial climbed 1.05 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.52 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 2.53 percent, LG Electronics skyrocketed 13.38 percent, SK Hynix gained 0.50 percent, Naver lost 0.89 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.39 percent, Lotte Chemical stumbled 1.20 percent, S-Oil strengthened 1.18 percent, SK Innovation dipped 0.10 percent, POSCO declined 1.42 percent, SK Telecom sank 0.77 percent, Hyundai Mobis slumped 0.90 percent, Hyundai Motor fell 0.19 percent, Kia Motors slipped 0.08 percent and KEPCO was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday finished the same way.
The Dow shed 216.73 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 38,852.86, while the NASDAQ advanced 99.09 points or 0.59 percent to close at a record 17,019.88 and the S&P 500 perked 1.32 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,306.04.
The continued advance by the NASDAQ came on a sharp increase by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling surging 7.1 percent to a record closing high.
Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of Merck (MRK) weighed on the Dow, as the drug giant tumbled by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month.
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board noted an unexpectedly significant improvement in consumer confidence in May.
Oil prices rose Tuesday on hopes demand for oil will pick up in the U.S. driving season, and on expectations that OPEC will extend its production cuts into the next quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.11 or 2.7 percent at $79.83 a barrel.