(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Wednesday snapped the six-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 120 points or 4.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,570-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with many of the overbought regional bourses likely to see profit taking. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.
The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials, although the chemical companies were up.
For the day, the index stumbled 35.36 points or 1.34 percent to finish at the daily low of 2,596.32 after peaking at 2,663.36. Volume was 441.8 million shares worth 11.4 trillion won. There were 516 decliners and 355 gainers.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial plummeted 5.14 percent, while KB Financial plunged 4.76 percent, Hana Financial surrendered 3.19 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.58 percent, Samsung SDI skidded 1.55 percent, LG Electronics tumbled 6.96 percent, SK Hynix climbed 1.10 percent, Naver dropped 1.07 percent, LG Chem improved 0.72 percent, Lotte Chemical advanced 0.91 percent, S-Oil added 0.65 percent, SK Innovation sank 0.74 percent, POSCO slumped 2.72 percent, SK Telecom declined 1.38 percent, KEPCO stumbled 1.29 percent, Hyundai Mobis shed 1.11 percent, Hyundai Motor fell 0.59 percent and Kia Motors lost 0.96 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but trended lower throughout the session, finally ending mostly in the red.
The Dow stumbled 293.47 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 41,914.75, while the NASDAQ perked 7.68 points or 0.04 percent to close at 18,082.21 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.67 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,722.26.
The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength, which has lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to record highs.
In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales pulled back sharply in the month of August.
Data on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and personal income and spending are due later this week, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech later today is also in focus.
Oil prices fell sharply Wednesday on uncertainty about the outlook for demand and easing concerns over supply disruptions in Libya. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.87 or 2.6 percent at $69.69 a barrel.
