Taiwan Bourse May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking more than 210 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,700-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower on concerns over the outlook for interest rates and the health of the banking sector. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the technology shares and mixed performances from the financials, plastics and cement companies.

For the day, the index dropped 128.83 points or 0.81 percent to finish at 15,701.48 after trading between 15,685.59 and 15,846.54.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial added 0.48 percent, while Mega Financial sank 0.61 percent, CTBC Financial perked 0.23 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.36 percent, First Financial was down 0.38 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.40 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.13 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.51 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.48 percent, Largan Precision plunged 2.65 percent, Catcher Technology fell 0.53 percent, MediaTek tumbled 1.79 percent, Delta Electronics lost 0.50 percent, Novatek Microelectronics slumped 1.16 percent, Formosa Plastics gathered 0.54 percent, Nan Ya Plastics eased 0.13 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.47 percent and Taiwan Cement stumbled 1.23 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday, but they all headed south throughout the session and ended in the red.

The Dow shed 37.83 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 32,394.25, while the NASDAQ sank 52.76 points or 0.45 percent to end at 11,716.08 and the S&P 500 fell 6.26 points or 0.16 percent to close at 3,971.27.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates amid a continued increase in treasury yields as the 10-year yield climbed further off last Friday's six-month closing low.

In economic news, the Conference Board unexpectedly reported a slight improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in March.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Tuesday on easing concerns about global banking sector woes, lifting the most active oil futures contract to a two-week closing high. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $73.20 a barrel.