Soft Start Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slumping almost 600 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 22,810-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with continued profit taking among technology stocks likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the technology stocks and plastics companies, while the financials offered support.

For the day, the index tumbled 439.69 points or 1.89 percent to finish at the daily low of 22,813.70 after peaking at 23,131.68.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.33 percent, while Mega Financial advanced 0.88 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.06 percent, First Financial added 0.54 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.26 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.35 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plunged 3.09 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.56 percent, Hon Hai Precision tanked 2.83 percent, Largan Precision increased 0.39 percent, Catcher Technology perked 0.22 percent, MediaTek plummeted 5.37 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 1.70 percent, Novatek Microelectronics eased 0.16 percent, Formosa Plastics skidded 1.16 percent, Nan Ya Plastics surrendered 1.76 percent, Asia Cement improved 0.67 percent and China Steel was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be a dichotomy as the major averages opened mixed and finished the same way, with only the Dow finishing in the green.

The Dow rallied 260.88 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 39,411.21, while the NASDAQ tumbled 192.54 points or 1.09 percent to close at 17,496.82 and the S&P 500 fell 16.75 points or 0.31 percent to end at 5,447.87.

The weakness on Wall Street came as technology stocks dragged the markets lower, with Nvidia Corporation, Dell Technologies and QualComm all plummeting on profit taking.

Traders also were looking ahead to Friday's Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending in May, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices gained Monday on optimism about the outlook for demand and likely supply disruptions due to tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August rose $0.90 or 1.1 percent at $81.63 a barrel.