(RTTNews) - After a positive start and a subsequent upmove, the South Korean market shed some gains in late morning trades due to lack of support at higher levels.

The benchmark KOSPI index, which rose to 1,566 after opening at 1,566, is currently up 10.1 points, or 0.66%, at 1,560.

Bank stocks are trading notably higher, with strong quarterly earnings reports from Korea Exchange Bank and Shinhan Financial Group triggering a rally in the sector. Korea Exchange Bank is up 6.3%, Shinhan Financial is trading with a 3% gain, Woori Finance is gaining 2.3% and KB Financial is up 2% over its previous close.

In the shipping space, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding are up 2.8% and 1.6% respectively. Samsung Heavy Industries and STX Pan Ocean are trading modestly higher.

Among tech stocks, heavyweight Samsung Electronics and LG Display LCD are trading flat, while Hynix Semiconductor and LG Electronics are trading stronger by 1.2% and 1.5%, respectively.

Automobile stocks Kia Motor, Ssangyong Motor and Hyundai Motor are exhibiting weakness. Steel stocks Hyundai Steel and POSCO are up 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively. Telecom, oil and airlines stocks are also trading higher.

Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong and Taiwan are up sharply. Shanghai, Indonesia and Singapore are trading with modest gains. New Zealand and Japan are trading flat, while the Australian market is down with a modest loss. Markets across the region had ended lower on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw a choppy trading session on Tuesday, despite some signs of life on the M&A front and positive news on factory orders. The major averages closed on the opposite sides of the unchanged mark with a section of traders choosing to stay on the sidelines ahead of release of key economic reports later on in the week.

While the Dow ended lower by 17.5 points, or 0.2%, at 9,771.9, the Nasdaq closed up 8.1 points, or 0.4%, at 2,057.3 and the S&P 500 edged up 2.5 points, or 0.2%, 1,045.4.

Major European markets closed notably lower on Tuesday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 1.3%, while the German DAX index and the French CAC 40 index dropped by 1.4% and 1.5% respectively.

Crude oil prices turned higher on Tuesday. Light sweet crude for December rose to US$79.06 a barrel, up 93 cents on the session.

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