Taiwan Shares May Head South Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the two-day losing streak in which it had slipped more than 270 points or 1.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 23,660-point plateau although it may see renewed consolidation on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on renewed tariff concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology stocks, while the plastics were down and the financial sector was mixed.

For the day, the index soared 281.65 points or 1.20 percent to finish at 23,660.59 after trading between 23,498.40 and 23,671.84.

Among the actives, Mega Financial fell 0.23 percent, while First Financial advanced 0.99 percent, E Sun Financial perked 0.15 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company strengthened 1.32 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.49 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.50 percent, Largan Precision jumped 1.68 percent, Catcher Technology expanded 1.64 percent, MediaTek improved 0.75 percent, Delta Electronics skyrocketed 6.58 percent, Formosa Plastics skidded 1.06 percent, Nan Ya Plastics tanked 2.26 percent, Asia Cement slumped 0.86 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial, Fubon Financial and Novatek Microelectronics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and spent the balance of the day in the red, closing near session lows.

The Dow slipped 61.90 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 44,111.74, while the NASDAQ sank 137.03 points or 0.65 percent to end at 20,916.55 and the S&P 500 dropped 30.75 points or 0.49 percent to close at 6,299.19.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected ongoing trade concerns after President Donald Trump said he will be announcing new tariffs on semiconductors and chips as soon as next week. Trump said planned tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. could reach as high as 250 percent.

Negative sentiment was also have been generated by a report from the Institute for Supply Management that unexpectedly showed a modest slowdown in the pace of growth by U.S. service sector activity in the month of July.

Early in the session, stocks benefitted from a positive reaction to some of the latest earnings news, including upbeat quarterly results from software company Palantir (PLTR).

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday amid US pressure on India to stop buying oil from Russia, as well as OPEC's recent decision to boost production. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery slumped $1.05 or 1.58 percent to $65.24 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide July numbers for consumer prices later today; in June, overall inflation was up 0.14 percent on month and 1.37 percent on year.