Taiwan Shares May Open Under Pressure On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, tumbling almost 290 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 16,640-point plateau and it may see continued consolidation again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is one of caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate decision and statement later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down 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 cement companies.

For the day, the index sank 61.92 points or 0.37 percent to finish at the daily low of 16,636.32 after peaking at 16,762.52.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.11 percent, while Mega Financial eased 0.13 percent, First Financial collected 0.37 percent, Fubon Financial slid 0.32 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company fell 0.37 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.65 percent, Largan Precision advanced 0.95 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.15 percent, Novatek Microelectronics lost 0.45 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 0.12 percent, Nan Ya Plastics declined 0.29 percent, Asia Cement was down 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement dropped 0.85 percent, China Steel slumped 0.93 percent and Hon Hai Precision, Delta Electronics, Catcher Technology, CTBC Financial and E Sun Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat, tumbled early and then saw a late recovery to finish with only modest losses.

The Dow shed 106.57 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 34,517.73, while the NASDAQ lost 32.05 points or 0.23 percent to close at 13,678.19 and the S&P 500 fell 9.58 points or 0.22 percent to end at 4,443.95.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders remained on edge ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement and the central bank's projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated by a Commerce Department report showing a sharp pullback in U.S. housing starts in August. Also, the Commerce Department said building permits surged more than expected in August.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday after posting gains in the three previous sessions to touch a 10-month high. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.28 or 0.3 percent at $91.20 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see August data for export orders later today, with forecasts calling for a decline of 10.0 percent on year following the 12.0 percent drop in July.