Rally May Stall For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in six straight sessions, jumping more than 4,600 points or 10 percent in that span on its way to a fresh record closing high. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 47,750-point plateau although it's overdue for consolidation on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower amid weakness from technology shares and concerns about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses figure to also open to the downside.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the technology, plastics and cement sectors, while the financial shares were mixed.

For the day, the index surged 1,276.31 points or 2.75 percent to finish at 47,741.51 after trading between 46,679.57 and 47,871.19.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial tumbled 2.16 percent, while Mega Financial retreated 1.65 percent, CTBC Financial tanked 1.95 percent, First Financial dropped 0.92 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.36 percent, E Sun Financial climbed 1.13 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company soared 4.15 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skyrocketed 9.97 percent, Largan Precision dipped 0.19 percent, Catcher Technology vaulted 1.73 percent, MediaTek jumped 1.71 percent, Novatek Microelectronics surged 9.88 percent, Formosa Plastics rallied 1.35 percent, Nan Ya Plastics soared 9.71 percent, Asia Cement expanded 1.54 percent and Delta Electronics and Hon Hai Precision were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly headed south before finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 148.01 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 51,712.71, while the NASDAQ tumbled 351.33 points or 1.32 percent to close at 26,166.60 and the S&P 500 sank 27.79 points or 0.37 percent to end at 7,472.79.

The slump by the NASDAQ came amid weakness among technology stocks, with shares of SpaceX (SPCX) plummeting by 16.4 percent. An increase by treasury yields weighed on tech stocks, as the yield on the two-year note reaches its highest levels in over a year.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates drove yields higher ahead of the release of key inflation data later in the week.

Traders seem worried that an acceleration in the pace of inflation as a result of President Donald Trump's war with Iran could lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this year.

Crude oil prices plunged on Monday even though the Iranian military says it has again closed off the Strait of Hormuz, although there are reports of commercial vessels are operating freely in the strait. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $1.63 or 2.13 percent at $74.97 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release May figures for export orders and unemployment later today; in April, export orders surged 48.1 percent on year, while the jobless rate was 3.34 percent.