Taiwan Shares May Take Further Damage On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, sinking almost 1,700 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just shy of the 46,050-point plateau and it may open under water again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft, with selling pressure among the technology stocks likely to tip the markets into the red. The European and U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Wednesday following heavy losses among the financial shares and technology companies, while the plastics companies offered support.

For the day, the index plummeted 1,057.05 points or 2.23 percent to finish at 46,043.60 after trading between 45,819.71 and 46,909.98.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial tumbled 3.08 percent, while Mega Financial retreated 1.44 percent, CTBC Financial tanked 3.45 percent, First Financial slumped 1.23 percent, Fubon Financial surrendered 2.18 percent, E Sun Financial stumbled 2.23 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plunged 4.02 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation crashed 4.71 percent, Hon Hai Precision skidded 1.35 percent, Largan Precision contracted 2.00 percent, MediaTek plummeted 5.51 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 3.85 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dipped 0.18 percent, Formosa Plastics skyrocketed 9.99 percent, Nan Ya Plastics advanced 0.97 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.84 percent and Catcher Technology was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but couldn't hold the gains, finally finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 182.06 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 51,848.90, while the NASDAQ slumped 110.40 points or 0.43 percent to close at 25,476.63 and the S&P 500 slipped 7.24 points or 0.10 percent to end at 7,358.22.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street, and especially the tech-heavy NASDAQ, was the result of renewed selling among semiconductor stocks over artificial intelligence infrastructure concerns.

The early strength came despite some uncertainty surrounding the US-Iran peace deal amid disagreements between the two nations over a few key terms of the pact.

A slide in crude oil prices also spurred the markets higher as West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery tumbled $2.87 or 3.92 percent to $70.34 per barrel as shipping traffic picks up across the Strait of Hormuz.

In economic news, data from the Commerce Department showed sales of new single-family homes in the US tumbled 7.3 percent month-over-month in May to the lowest annualized rate of 580,000, following an upwardly revised 626,000 in April.