Rally May Stall For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, accelerating more than 110 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 6,800-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement with tech concerns pitted against easing crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead, if little changed.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financial shares and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the automobile producers.

For the day, the index gained 65.47 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 6,808.21. Volume was 323.3 million shares worth 22.38 trillion won. There were 584 winners and 273 gainers.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but spent most of the day under water and finished slightly in the red.

The Dow dropped 113.52 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 53,463.88, while the NASDAQ dipped 21.10 points or 0.08 percent to close at 26,130.20 and the S&P 500 eased 1.58 points or 0.02 percent to end at 7,675.70.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of AI giant Nvidia's (NVDA) second quarter results after the close of Wednesday trading. Nvidia then handily beat the street, although some analysts were looking for more.

Traders were also looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh's speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium on Friday; traders shrugged off the Commerce Department's report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased slightly more than expected in July.

Crude oil prices inched lower on Wednesday on reports of Iran and Oman nearing an agreement to establish a temporary transit corridor through the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $0.22 or 0.27 percent at $82.14 per barrel.