(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, rallying more than 340 points or 5.8 percent on its way to a fresh record closing high. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 5,850-point plateau although investors figure to lock in gains on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative due to uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariff policies. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit. The KOSPI finished modestly higher again on Monday as gains from the technology and automobile sectors were capped by profit taking among the financial shares. For the day, the index added 37.56 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 5,846.09 after trading between 5,792.57 and 5,931.86. Volume was 1.46 billion shares worth 31.51 trillion won. There were 545 gainers and 346 decliners. Among the actives, Shinhan Financial slipped 0.20 percent, while KB Financial eased 0.06 percent, Hana Financial tumbled 1.68 percent, Samsung Electronics strengthened 1.53 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 2.61 percent, LG Electronics surged 7.28 percent, SK Hynix rose 0.21 percent, Naver added 0.39 percent, LG Chem slumped 1.34 percent, Lotte Chemical climbed 1.17 percent, SK Innovation gained 0.63 percent, POSCO Holdings retreated 1.52 percent, SK Telecom sank 0.87 percent, KEPCO lost 0.48 percent, Hyundai Mobis improved 0.56 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.75 percent and Kia Motors added 0.52 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened lower and remained in the red throughout the session, ending near daily lows.
The Dow plummeted 821.91 points or 1.66 percent to finish at 48,804.06, while the NASDAQ tumbled 258.79 points or 1.13 percent to close at 22,627.27 and the S&P 500 dropped 71.76 points or 1.04 percent to end at 6,837.75.
The sell-off on Wall Street came amid renewed trade uncertainty following the Supreme Court's decision last Friday striking down most of President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs.
Meanwhile, the European Commission issued a statement requesting "full clarity" on the steps the U.S. intends to take following the Supreme Court decision.
Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to a nosedive by shares of IBM Corp. (IBM) after Anthropic's Claude announced COBOL capabilities. COBOL is a programming language used widely in business data processing, which is a core business for IBM.
Crude oil prices sputtered on Monday as demand concerns reappeared following the uncertainty generated by the tariff issues. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery slipped $0.10 or 0.15 percent to $66.38 per barrel.
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