KOSPI Likely To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had given up almost 35 points or 1.4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,670-point plateau and it may hand back some of those gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft amid continued uncertainty over U.S. trade policies. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology stocks and industrials, while the financial shares came in mixed.

For the day, the index climbed 32.93 points or 1.25 percent to finish at 2,670.15 after trading between 2,643.50 and 2,692.47. Volume was 403.25 million shares worth 11.16 trillion won. There were 579 gainers and 308 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial perked 0.18 percent, while KB Financial dropped 0.88 percent, Hana Financial fell 0.29 percent, Samsung Electronics rallied 3.71 percent, Samsung SDI skyrocketed 8.68 percent, LG Electronics soared 3.19 percent, SK Hynix spiked 2.72 percent, Naver jumped 2.12 percent, LG Chem improved 6.01 percent, Lotte Chemical strengthened 2.76 percent, SK Innovation increased 5.85 percent, POSCO Holdings surged 5.27 percent, SK Telecom dipped 0.19 percent, KEPCO slumped 0.98 percent, Hyundai Mobis gained 4.53 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.20 percent and Kia Motors advanced 0.91 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off a mildly positive open and headed south through the balance of the session, ending at daily lows.

The Dow dropped 244.95 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 42,098.70, while the NASDAQ sank 98.23 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19,100.94 and the S&P 500 slumped 32.99 points or 0.56 percent to end at 5,888.55.

The choppy trading came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of earnings news from AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) after Wednesday's close.

The earnings news after the bell showed that Nvidia beat the street on earnings and revenue, possibly lending support to technology shares going forward.

Lingering uncertainty about President Donald Trump's trade policies also kept some traders on the sidelines following recent volatility.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Wednesday on news that OPEC will establish output quotas for 2027. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery climbed $0.87 or 1.43 percent to $61.76 per barrel.

Closer to home, the Bank of Korea will wrap up its monetary policy meeting this morning and then announce its decision on interest rates. The BoK is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 2.75 percent.