The South Korea stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 35 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,490-point plateau and it may remain stuck in neutral on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with support from the oil companies likely offset by weakness from the technology shares. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the technology stocks, chemicals and industrials, while the financials offered support. For the day, the index dropped 26.22 points or 1.04 percent to finish at 2,489.56 after trading between 2,483.73 and 2,513.93. Volume was 569.34 million shares worth 8.89 trillion won. There were 637 decliners and 261 gainers. Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.30 percent, while KB Financial spiked 1.71 percent, Samsung Electronics stumbled 2.17 percent, Samsung SDI slumped 1.92 percent, LG Electronics retreated 1.75 percent, SK Hynix plunged 4.52 percent, Naver advanced 0.99 percent, LG Chem declined 1.63 percent, Lotte Chemical dropped 2.56 percent, SK Innovation added 0.64 percent, POSCO Holdings surrendered 1.91 percent, SK Telecom improved 0.72 percent, KEPCO skidded 1.23 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 1.36 percent, Hyundai Motor tumbled 2.65 percent, Kia Motors eased 0.19 percent and Hana Financial was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed to higher as the major averages opened on opposite sides of the unchanged line on Monday and finished in the same manner.
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June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.