South Korea Shares May Take Further Damage On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has tracked lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 40 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just shy of the 2,460-point plateau and it's likely to open under pressure again on Wednesday

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's interest rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion, although bargain hunting may take hold later in the day.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and chemical companies.

For the day, the index retreated 32.16 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 2,456.81 after trading between 2,455.05 and 2,487.31. Volume was 547.9 million shares worth 9.03 trillion won. There were 493 decliners and 384 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial weakened 1.72 percent, while KB Financial dipped 0.24 percent, Hana Financial sank 1.02 percent, Samsung Electronics stumbled 2.52 percent, Samsung SDI plummeted 6.08 percent, LG Electronics dropped 1.14 percent, SK Hynix rallied 2.62 percent, Naver sank 2.10 percent, LG Chem surrendered 4,10 percent, Lotte Chemical tumbled 3.37 percent, SK Innovation declined 1.52 percent, POSCO Holdings tanked 2.40 percent, SK Telecom slumped 1.04 percent, KEPCO skidded 1.16 percent, Hyundai Mobis advanced 0.84 percent, Hyundai Motor retreated 2.13 percent and Kia Motors added 0.42 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 267.58 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 43,449.90, while the NASDAQ sank 64.83 points or 0.32 percent to close at 20,109.06 and the S&P 500 lost 23.47 points or 0.39 percent to end at 6,050.61.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected a pullback by technology stocks, which had led the way higher in the previous session - particularly among the networking and semiconductor stocks. Telecom, financial, housing and steel stocks also moved to the downside.

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another quarter-point, traders will pay close attention to the Fed's statement and latest economic projections, including their forecasts for rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for global demand, and possible excess supply in the market next year. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January ended down $0.63 or 0.9 percent at $70.08 a barrel.