Taiwan Bourse May Extend Monday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 525 points or 1.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,245-point plateau and it may take further damage on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be negative on concerns over the outlook for interest rates and recession fears. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index declined 163.64 points or 1.06 percent to finish at 15,245.14 after trading between 15,229.36 and 15,375.20. Among the actives, Cathay Financial declined 1.37 percent, while CTBC Financial dropped 1.02 percent, Fubon Financial tumbled 2.00 percent, First Financial sank 0.75 percent, E Sun Financial lost 0.89 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.73 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 2.67 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 6.31 percent, MediaTek plunged 3.03 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.10 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 0.64 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dipped 0.14 percent, Asia Cement rose 0.35 percent, Taiwan Cement added 0.51 percent and Hon Hai Precision, Catcher Technology and Mega Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened sharply lower and remained deep in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 643.13 points or 1.91 percent to finish at 33,063.61, while the NASDAQ plunged 323.64 points or 2.55 percent to close at 12,381.57 and the S&P 500 sank 90.49 points or 2.14 percent to end at 4,137.99.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates contributed to the weakness on Wall Street ahead of this week's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming - where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to sound a more hawkish tone in his comments.

Aggressive monetary tightening by central banks in Europe add to the nervous sentiment, as do concerns about a possible recession in major economies.

Crude oil prices moved lower on Monday on concerns about outlook for energy demand, while the dollar's strength also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.54 or 0.6 percent at $90.23 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide July figures for industrial production and retail sales later today; in June, output rose 0.73 percent on year and sales jumped 22.5 percent on year.