Soft Start Seen For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Monday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 440 points or 6.5 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 6,700-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, especially among the technology and energy companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian markets are also likely to track to the downside.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Monday following losses among the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index tumbled 215.99 points or 3.12 percent to finish at 6,696.96 after trading between 6,656.07 and 6,884.57. Volume was 264.9 million shares worth 26.1 trillion won. There were 576 gainers and 286 decliners.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and remained that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow advanced 139.98 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 53,416.99, while the NASDAQ slumped 200.26 points or 0.76 percent to close at 25,980.19 and the S&P 500 sank 21.41 points or 0.28 percent to end at 7,652.96.

The pullback by the broader markets reflects weakness among technology stocks, as reflected by the decline by the tech-heavy NASDAQ. Semiconductor stocks are turning in some of the tech sector's worst performances, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunging by 3.6 percent.

Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) are also weighing ahead of the release of the AI giant's second quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday. Overall trading activity was subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to Nvidia's earnings as well as the Jackson Hole economic symposium later this week.

Computer hardware and networking stocks are also seeing considerable weakness, while out of the tech sector, energy stocks are under pressure amid a steep drop by crude oil prices.

Crude oil prices slumped on Monday after the U.S. unleashed a massive economic offensive against Iran to compel the nation to strike a deal. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $2.13 or 2.45 percent at $84.93 per barrel.