No Help Yet For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked lower in four straight sessions, slumping almost 350 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 20,450-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on rising concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 286.80 points or 1.38 percent to finish at the daily low of 20,449.77 after peaking at 20,623.77.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial slid 0.20 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.38 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.63 percent, First Financial shed 0.55 percent, Fubon Financial sank 0.59 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.18 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.47 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 2.09 percent, Hon Hai Precision surrendered 2.99 percent, Largan Precision tanked 2.34 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.24 percent, MediaTek plummeted 5.93 percent, Delta Electronics declined 2.84 percent, Novatek Microelectronics stumbled 1.90 percent, Formosa Plastics was down 0.14 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.35 percent, Asia Cement added 0.60 percent, Taiwan Cement gained 0.47 percent and China Steel slumped 1.21 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened higher on Monday but quickly head south and finished deep in the red.

The Dow dropped 248.13 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 37,735.11, while the NASDAQ tumbled 290.08 points or 1.79 percent to close at 15,885.02 and the S&P 500 sank 61.59 points or 1.20 percent to end at 5,061.82.

The initial strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Goldman Sachs (GS) as the investment banking company reported Q1 earnings that exceeded estimates on better than expected revenues.

Traders also initially reacted positively to a Commerce Department report showing much stronger than expected U.S. retail sales growth in March - but the data triggered another spike by treasury yields.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note has surged to its highest levels in five months, as the data has led to renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil prices fell on Monday amid slightly easing concerns about supply disruptions after Iran's drone and missile attack on Israel did not cause any big damage. Concerns about the outlook for oil demand in China and a strong U.S. dollar also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for May ended lower by $0.25 at $85.41 a barrel.