Taiwan Shares May Tick Higher On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 100 points or 0.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,220-point plateau, although it may bounce higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity with the outlook for interest rates shrouded in uncertainty. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index shed 72.12 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 20,222.33 after trading between 20,217.58 and 20,387.23.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.62 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.25 percent, CTBC Financial plummeted 4.24 percent, First Financial perked 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.29 percent, E Sun Financial added 0.37 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.16 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.96 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.33 percent, Largan Precision jumped 1.64 percent, Catcher Technology plunged 3.20 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.93 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 1.91 percent, Novatek Microelectronics was up 0.11 percent, Formosa Plastics soared 2.90 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rallied 2.68 percent, Asia Cement gathered 0.12 percent, China Steel increased 0.42 percent and Taiwan Cement was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but spent most of the day in the red, although the NASDAQ ticked back up into the green by the session's end.

The Dow slumped 240.52 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 39,566.85, while the NASDAQ added 17.37 points or 0.11 percent to close at 16,396.83 and the S&P 500 fell 10.58 points or 0.20 percent to end at 5,243.77.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders finally had an opportunity to react to last Friday's closely watched U.S. consumer price inflation data, which largely matched expectations.

Buying interest remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders expressed uncertainty about whether inflation is slowing quickly enough to guarantee the interest rate cuts expected by the Federal Reserve.

The subsequent pullback by stocks came as a report from the Institute for Supply Management unexpectedly showing modest growth in U.S. manufacturing activity in March contributed to a jump by Treasury yields.

Oil prices moved higher Monday amid concerns about a possible drop in supplies following reports of an Israeli strike near the Iranian embassy in Damascus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.54 or 0.65 percent at $83.71 a barrel.