(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the four-day losing streak in which it had plunged almost 125 points or 4.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,630-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on bargain hunting, especially among the technology tocks that were battered last week. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit. The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, chemical companies and automobile producers, while the oil and technology stocks were soft. For the day, the index rallied 37.58 points or 1.45 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,629.44 after moving as low as 2,604.37. Volume was 389 million shares worth 10.85 trillion won. There were 659 gainers and 226 decliners. Among the actives, Shinhan Financial surged 6.11 percent, while KB Financial skyrocketed 9.11 percent, Hana Financial soared 8.78 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 1.93 percent, Samsung SDI jumped 5.11 percent, LG Electronics rose 0.88 percent, SK Hynix dropped 0.98 percent, Naver sank 0.82 percent, LG Chem advanced 2.02 percent, Lotte Chemical gained 3.08 percent, S-Oil slumped 0.91 percent, SK Innovation rallied 6.55 percent, POSCO strengthened 2.20 percent, SK Telecom climbed 1.80 percent, KEPCO spiked 3.72 percent, Hyundai Mobis added 1.92 percent and Kia Motors and Hyundai Motor both accelerated 4.26 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day.
The Dow rallied 253.58 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 38,239.98, while the NASDAQ jumped 169.30 points or 1.11 percent to close at 15,451.31 and the S&P 500 gained 43.37 points or 0.87 percent to end at 5,010.60.
The strength that emerged on Wall Street came on easing fears of a wider Middle East conflict after Iran and Israel completed 'measured' counterattacks that were calibrated to avoid any casualties.
Investors scooped up bargains ahead of the release of a slew of U.S. economic data including reports on new home sales, durable goods orders and personal income and spending.
Earnings season also starts to pick up steam this week, with Tesla (TSLA), Boeing (BA), IBM (IBM), Caterpillar (CAT), Honeywell (HON), Alphabet (GOOGL), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) among the companies due to report their quarterly results.
Oil prices drifted lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for global oil demand, while recent data showing a sharp jump in U.S. crude inventories also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May fell $0.29 or 0.34 percent at $82.85 a barrel.
