South Korea Market May Remain Stuck In Neutral

The South Korea stock market gave up just a pair of points on Tuesday – but that was enough to snap the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 25 points or 1.2 percent. The KOSPI settled just shy of the 1,970-point plateau, and the market is looking at another narrow trading range on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains roughly flat with a touch of weakness ahead of the Federal Reserve interest rate decision later today. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed but little changed – and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the technology stocks were mitigated by support from the industrials.

For the day, the index slipped 2.30 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 1,969.96 after trading between 1,966.44 and 1,979.46 on volume of 3.8 trillion won.

Among the actives, Hyundai Development spiked 4.77 percent, while POSCO added 0.48 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.16 percent, Hyundai Motor fell 1.01 percent and AmorePacific spiked 2.45 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is slightly negative as stocks were mostly lower Tuesday as falling crude oil prices remained a key driver of the markets – skidding 2.3 percent.

The Dow added 22.40 points or 0.13 percent to 17,251.53, while the NASDAQ slipped 21.61 points or 0.45 percent to 4,728.67 and the S&P 500 eased 3.71 points or 0.18 percent to 2,015.93.

The listless trading came as traders looked ahead to today’s monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay close attention to the wording of the accompanying statement.

Traders reacted to several key economic reports, including a Commerce Department report showing a modest drop in retail sales in February. A separate report from the Labor Department showed a modest decline in producer prices in February.