Higher Open Called For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher now in consecutive trading days, collecting almost 20 points or 1 percent along the way. The KOSPI settled just shy of the 2,050-plateau, and now the market may extend its gains again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside as many of the regional bourses remain oversold - although the upside may be capped by soft economic data and mixed earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were up, and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the automobile producers and other industrials.

For the day, the index added 13.16 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 2,048.40 after trading between 2,040.75 and 2,053.24. Volume was 582.9 million shares worth 5.69 trillion won. There were 500 gainers and 318 decliners.

Among the actives, Hyundai Motor climbed 2.52 percent, while Kia Motors spiked 4.67 percent, POSCO soared 4.74 percent, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering surged 7.66 percent and SK Telecom dropped 3.56 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks finished mostly higher on Tuesday, although well off of the daily highs. The moderate gains extended the rally that started in the previous session.

The Dow climbed 89.39 points or 0.5 percent to 17,918.15, while the NASDAQ rose 17.98 points or 0.4 percent to 5,145.13 and the S&P 500 edged up 5.74 points or 0.3 percent to 2,109.79.

Traders shrugged off a report from the Commerce Department showing that factory orders saw further downside in September.

In earnings news, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) reported earnings that came in below estimates, while fertilizer producer Mosaic (MOS) beat the street.

Among individual stocks, shares of King Digital (KING) moved sharply higher after the online game maker agreed to be acquired by Activision Blizzard (ATVI) for $5.9 billion in cash.