The South Korea stock market on Monday wrote a finish to the modest two-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 8 points or 0.3 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,475-point plateau, and the losses may accelerate on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative thanks to ongoing fears of a trade war, the outlook for interest rates and a drop in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourse figure to follow suit.
The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the automobile producers and heavy industrials were mitigated by support from the steel companies and financial shares.
For the day, the index retreated 18.94 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 2,475.03 after trading between 2,470.91 and 2,493.56. Volume was 471.37 million shares worth 5.87 trillion won. There were 534 decliners and 275 gainers.
Among the actives, Daewoo Shipbuilding skidded 2.88 percent, while Hyundai Heavy lost 0.70 percent, Doosan Heavy picked up 0.33 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.78 percent, LG Electronics gained 0.454 percent, SK hynix added 0.11 percent, POSCO perked 0.29 percent, Hyundai Steel advanced 0.59 percent, Hyundai Motor tumbled 3.81 percent, Kia Motors plunged 3.53 percent, Woori Bank collected 0.64 percent and Shinhan Financial was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is weak as stocks moved sharply lower on Monday, extending last week's losses.
The Dow shed 335.60 points or 1.35 percent to 24,610.91, while the NASDAQ lost 137.74 points or 1.84 percent to 7,344.24 and the S&P fell 39.09 points or 1.42 percent to 2,712.92.
The sell-off reflected lingering concerns about a potential trade war as well as political uncertainty following recent developments in Washington. Traders are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will keep an eye on the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for future rate hikes. New Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's first press conference as head of the central bank is also likely to attract considerable attention.
A steep drop by social media giant Facebook (FB) was a heavy drag on the technology sector, while telecoms, energy, computer hardware and steel stocks also fell under pressure.
Crude oil futures fell along with U.S. stocks Monday as traders fretted over a litany of defections and firings from the Trump Administration. WTI light sweet oil was down 28 cents or 0.5 percent to settle at $62.06/bbl.
Closer to home, the Bank of Korea said this morning that producer prices in South Korea advanced 0.4 percent on month in February. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the rate of growth in January.
On a yearly basis, producer prices climbed 1.3 percent - exceeding forecasts for 1.2 percent, which would have been unchanged from, the previous month.
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