(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, rallying more than 460 points or 8 percent on its way to a fresh record closing high. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 5,970-point plateau and it's got another positive lead for Wednesday's trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with technology shares likely to lead the markets higher. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology, chemical and automobile companies, while the financial sector remained soft.
For the day, the index surged 123.55 points or 2.11 percent to finish at the daily high of 5,969.64 after trading as low as 5,775.61. Volume was 1.58 billion shares worth 30.73 trillion won. There were 465 decliners and 407 gainers.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dropped 0.88 percent, while KB Financial skidded 1.19 percent, Hana Financial tanked 2.32 percent, Samsung Electronics strengthened 3.63 percent, Samsung SDI rallied 7.66 percent, LG Electronics expanded 1.43 percent, SK Hynix vaulted 5.68 percent, Naver dipped 0.20 percent, LG Chem soared 5.41 percent, Lotte Chemical surged 6.15 percent, SK Innovation skyrocketed 7.24 percent, POSCO Holdings accelerated 2.96 percent, SK Telecom climbed 1.00 percent, KEPCO perked 0.16 percent, Hyundai Mobis jumped 1.68 percent, Hyundai Motor was up 0.19 percent and Kia Motors gained 0.75 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the markets opened flat on Tuesday but quickly trended upward and spent the balance of the day in positive territory, ending near session highs.
The Dow soared 370.44 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 49,174.50, while the NASDAQ rallied 236.41 points or 1.04 percent to end at 22,863.68 and the S&P 500 gained 52.32 points or 0.77 percent to close at 6,890.07.
The strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting, as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the steep drop on Monday when the Dow fell to a one-month low.
Semiconductor stocks lead the move back to the upside, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.5 percent to a new record closing high. Significant strength was also visible among networking, gold, airline and software stocks.
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in February as its consumer confidence index rose to 91.2 from an upwardly revised 89.0 in January.
Crude oil prices fell slumped Tuesday as traders continue to evaluate the potential turbulence in the trade tariff environment following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on reciprocal tariffs. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery sank $0.71 or 1.1 percent to $66.31 a barrel.
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