Tech Rebound May Boost South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering more than 210 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 5,770-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian is mixed to higher, with bargain hunting likely in the oversold bourses, although the upside may be capped by increased oil prices. 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 higher again on Monday as it tried to recover from last week's brutal selloff, led this time by bargain hunting among the technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index jumped 99.96 points or 1.76 percent to finish at 5,768.01 after trading as low as 5,488.41.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened mixed on Monday; the NASDAQ and S&P 500 were in the green all day, while the Dow hugged the line and finished slightly under water.

The strength on Wall Street came amid a rebound by technology stocks, which moved back to the upside after seeing substantial weakness in the previous session.

Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the tech sector's best performances, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index surging by 2 percent after plunging to a two-month closing low last Friday.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Home Builders noted a bigger-than-expected deterioration in U.S. homebuilder sentiment in the month of October.

Crude oil prices jumped again on Monday on escalating Middle East conflicts and regional supply fears. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $2.56 or 2.52 percent to $103.97 per barrel.