Mild Upside Seen For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, retreating almost 200 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,770-point plateau although it's looking at a steady start on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, with investors expected to wait and see what happens in terms of corporate earnings. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little hanged and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastic and cement companies.

For the day, the index shed 98.97 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 15,770.47 after trading between 15,756.75 and 15,915.39.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial sank 0.81 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.44 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.22 percent, First Financial was down 0.19 percent, Fubon Financial declined 0.68 percent, E Sun Financial dropped 0.99 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.97 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.73 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.48 percent, Largan Precision tanked 2.64 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.27 percent, MediaTek tumbled 1.89 percent, Delta Electronics lost 0.65 percent, Novatek Microelectronics eased 0.22 percent, Formosa Plastics weakened 0.54 percent, Nan Ya Plastics stumbled 1.16 percent, Asia Cement slumped 0.69 percent and Taiwan Cement skidded 0.93 percent.

The lead from Wall Street remains ambiguous as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday but chipped away throughout the session to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 79.62 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 33,897.01, while the NASDAQ rose 3.82 points or 0.03 percent to close at 12,157.23 and the S&P 500 eased 0.35 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,154.52.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders reacted to mixed earnings news as Netflix (NFLX) disappointed while Morgan Stanley (MS) and Travelers (TRV) beat the street.

Negative sentiment was generated by a jump in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note reaching its highest level in nearly a month. The increase reflected concerns about global inflation after the U.K. said consumer prices increased more than expected in March.

On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book report, noting U.S. economic activity was little changed in recent weeks, while the rate of price increases appeared to be slowing.

Crude oil prices slid on Wednesday on concerns that any further policy tightening by the Fed could hurt growth and significantly curb energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $1.66 or 2 percent at $79.24 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see March figures for export orders later today, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 20.0 percent on year after sinking an annual 18.3 percent in February.