Taiwan Shares Due For Support On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, dropping more than 460 points or 2.2 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 21,330-point plateau, although it's likely to see bargain hunting on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing tariff and trade war concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 200.03 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 21,336.54 after trading between 21,310.00 and 21,558.47.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.16 percent, while Mega Financial tumbled 1.60 percent, CTBC Financial retreated 1.33 percent, First Financial dropped 0.91 percent, Fubon Financial sank 0.74 percent, E Sun Financial fell 0.33 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.13 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 2.34 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.65 percent, Largan Precision declined 1.54 percent, Catcher Technology weakened 1.44 percent, Delta Electronics lost 0.81 percent, Novatek Microelectronics surrendered 2.10 percent, Formosa Plastics slumped 1.53 percent, Nan Ya Plastics stumbled 1.66 percent, Asia Cement was down 1.64 percent and MediaTek was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened in the green and continued to accelerate as the day progressed.

The Dow spiked 740.58 points or 1.78 percent to finish at 42,343.65, while the NASDAQ surged 461.96 points or 2.47 percent to close at 19,199.16 and the S&P 500 jumped 118.72 points or 2.05 percent to end at 5,921.54.

The rally on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump announced he is delaying a threatened 50 percent tariff on imports from the European Union.

The move by Trump came as analysts previously suggested the threatened tariff on the EU was just a negotiating tactic and not where the eventual rate will wind up.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report released by the Conference Board showing a substantial improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of May.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday on continuing concerns that OPEC may boost output at its meeting later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery dropped 0.65 or 1 percent to $64.09 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see Q1 data for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts calling for an increase of 5.37 percent on year - accelerating from 2.90 percent in the three months prior.