Mild Consolidation Expected For Taiwan Shares

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday snapped the five-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 950 points or 3.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 28,180-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the plastics and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index sank 121.20 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 28,182.60 after trading between 28,157.27 and 28,390.24.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.29 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.37 percent, First Financial shed 0.36 percent, Fubon Financial advanced 0.84 percent, E Sun Financial gained 0.31 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company slumped 1.00 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.61 percent, Hon Hai Precision climbed 1.29 percent, Largan Precision and Novatek Microelectronics both contracted 1.43 percent, Catcher Technology skidded 1.02 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.39 percent, Delta Electronics sank 0.82 percent, Formosa Plastics plunged 3.82 percent, Nan Ya Plastics stumbled 2.05 percent, Asia Cement fell 0.26 percent and CTBC Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as the major averages opened mixed and fairly flat and stayed that way through the session.

The Dow dropped 179.03 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 47,560.29, while the NASDAQ rose 30.58 points or 0.13 percent to close at 23,576.49 and the S&P 500 eased 6.00 points or 0.09 percent to end at 6,840.51.

Traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, there is considerable uncertainty about the longer-term outlook for rates.

Traders are likely to pay close attention to the wording of the Fed's accompanying statement as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. edged slightly higher in October.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday as Iraq resumed crude flow from Lukoil's West Qurna oil fields while the U.S. dollar gained ground after job data from the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.66 or 1.12 percent at $58.22 per barrel.