South Korea Bourse May Extend Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 430 points or 6.1 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 6,960-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on persistent hostilities in the Middle East and the resulting spike in crude oil prices. The European markets were flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the automobile, healthcare and steel companies were mitigated by support from the financial shares and energy stocks.

For the day, the index sank 40.87 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 6,954.52. Volume was 331.93 million shares worth 25.96 trillion won. There were 632 decliners and 230 gainers.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained under water throughout the trading day, ending at session lows.

The Dow tumbled 628.18 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 52,786.07, while the NASDAQ sank 85.58 points or 0.32 percent to close at 26,421.41 and the S&P 500 shed 45.08 points or 0.58 percent to end at 7,673.52.

The weakness on Wall Street came amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil due to the continued escalation of the conflict in the Middle East after the U.S. struck three Iranian crude oil carriers over the weekend.

Iran has threatened to retaliate against any new U.S. attacks on its assets and Saudi-led coalition forces vowed a resolute response to a wave of attacks from Houthi rebels.

Crude oil prices surged on Tuesday as U.S. forces and Iran continue to trade attacks, fueling supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was last up $1.31 or 1.43 percent at $92.79 per barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will see unemployment data for August later this morning; in July, the jobless rate was 2.8 percent.