Renewed Consolidation Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 100 points or 0.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,635-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, largely due to expectations of profit taking following recent gains. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financials, support from the plastics and mixed performances from the technology and cement sectors.

For the day, the index gained 58.65 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 17,635.20 after trading between 17,597.48 and 17,657.65.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.11 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.02 percent, CTBC Financial retreated 1.59 percent, First Financial slumped 1.10 percent, Fubon Financial shed 0.47 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.39 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.30 percent, Hon Hai Precision jumped 1.95 percent, Largan Precision sank 0.74 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.53 percent, MediaTek dropped 0.91 percent, Delta Electronics advanced 0.99 percent, Novatek Microelectronics improved 0.78 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 0.13 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rose 0.30 percent, Asia Cement dipped 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement gained 0.44 percent, China Steel lost 0.38 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages hugged the line for most of Wednesday's session but turned sharply lower heading into the close.

The Dow plunged 475.92 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 37,082.00, while the NASDAQ tumbled 225.28 points or 1.50 percent to close at 14,777.94 and the S&P 500 slumped 70.02 points or 1.47 percent to end at 4,698.36.

The late-day sell-off on Wall Street was largely attributed to profit taking, with traders cashing in on the strong upward move seen in recent sessions.

A steep drop by shares of FedEx (FDX) also weighed on the markets, with the delivery giant plunging by 12.1 percent after the company reported weaker than expected fiscal Q2 results and lowered its full-year revenue guidance.

In economic news, the Conference Board noted a much bigger than expected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in December, while the National Association of Realtors showed an unexpected rebound in U.S. existing home sales last month.

Oil prices climbed higher Wednesday on concerns about trade disruptions in the Middle East after attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $74.22 a barrel.