The South Korean stock market shed just a handful of points on Tuesday, but that was enough to end the modest two-day winning streak in which it had added nearly 25 points or 1.5 percent in the process. The KOSPI now rests at the 1,690-point plateau, and investors are anticipating little movement at the opening of trade on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed as the commodities were split with slightly higher oil and slightly lower gold. Financials and airlines could provide support, although weakness from the pharmaceuticals could weigh on investors. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed, and the Asian bourses are forecast to follow that track.
The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Tuesday, as the exporters - automobile producers and technology stocks - were hurt by the strengthening won.
For the day, the index eased 5.52 points or 0.3 percent to finish at 1,690.62 after trading between 1,686.45 and 1,702.39.
Among the decliners, Kumho Tire and Kumho Industrial both plunged by the daily limit of 15 percent, while Hyundai Motor shed 7.6 percent, Kia Motors lost 5.5 percent, Kumho Petrochemical fell 1.0 percent, Asiana Airlines was down 2.1 percent, Hynix Semiconductor lost 3.1 percent and LG Display eased 0.4 percent.
Finishing higher, Samsung Electronics added 1.6 percent, while STX Pan Ocean surged 6.2 percent and Korea Line gained 4.6 percent.
Wall Street offers no guidance as stocks ended Tuesday's session little changed as a mixed batch of economic data prompted a lack of direction in the equity markets. The major averages closed on opposite sides of the unchanged mark by mostly thin margins.
In economic news, the National Association of Realtors reported that its pending home sales index fell by 16.0 percent to 96.0 in November from an upwardly revised 114.3 in the previous month. Economists anticipated a much more modest decrease of about 2.0 percent.
Separately, the Commerce Department said that factory orders increased by 1.1 percent in November following an upwardly revised 0.8 percent increase in October. Economists expected orders to increase by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
In corporate news, Kraft Foods (KFT), which is trying to acquire British chocolate maker Cadbury (CBY), said it agreed to sell the assets of its North American pizza business to Nestle for a total consideration of $3.7 billion. The firm said that it would use an amount equivalent to the net proceeds from the sale to increase the cash portion of its offer for Cadbury.
However, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. voted "no" on Kraft's proposal to authorize the issuance of up to 370 million shares to facilitate the acquisition of Cadbury, as it believes that Kraft shares are a very expensive "currency" to be used in an acquisition.
In the tech sector, Google garnered considerable market attention today as it launched its Nexus One phone, which combines the latest in hardware from HTC Corp. with Google's own Android software.
Meanwhile, Apple Inc. plans to buy mobile ad company Quattro Wireless for $275 million, according to media reports. The deal comes after Google announced plans in November to buy AdMob, another mobile ad provider, for $750 million.
The major averages all saw some upside in late-session dealing, with only the Dow unable to pull into positive territory. The NASDAQ inched up by 0.29 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,308.71, the S&P 500 rose by 3.53 points or 0.3 percent to 1,136.52, while the Dow slipped by 11.94 points or 0.1 percent to 10,572.02.
In economic news, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves declined in December for the first time in 10 months, the Bank of Korea reported on Tuesday. Reserves decreased US$900 million to US$269.99 billion at the end of December. At the same time, for the whole year of 2009, reserves increased US$68.77 billion.
A central bank official said that the decrease in reserves in December came even after the National Pension Service repaid US$1.3 billion to the central bank as part of its currency swap agreement. Also, local banks repaid nearly US$200 million borrowings.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.