Taiwan Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking almost 1.600 points or 3.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 40,175-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on continued concerns over the conflict in the Middle East and on the outlook got interest rates. 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 lower on Tuesday following losses from the technology stocks, while the financial sector offered support.

For the day, the index cratered 716.26 points or 1.75 percent to finish at 40,175.56 after trading between 40,168.51 and 40,951.56.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rallied 1.30 percent, while Mega Financial spiked 2.78 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.09 percent, First Financial improved 0.87 percent, Fubon Financial vaulted 2.10 percent, E Sun Financial advanced 0.95 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.56 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 1.80 percent, Hon Hai Precision declined 1.41 percent, Largan Precision accelerated 2.28 percent, MediaTek plummeted 7.21 percent, Delta Electronics crashed 5.20 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dropped 2.00 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 0.11 percent, Nan Ya Plastics cratered 2.97 percent, Asia Cement gained 1.31 percent and Catcher Technology was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow slumped 322.24 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 49,363.88, while the NASDAQ tumbled 220.03 points or 0.84 percent to close at 25,870.71 and the S&P 500 sank 49.44 points or 0.67 percent to end at 7,353.61.

The weakness on Wall Street came amid an extended surge by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note jumping to its highest levels since January 2025.

Concerns about elevated crude oil prices leading to a sustained acceleration in the pace of inflation continued to drive yields higher and increase the possibility of an interest rate hike.

Crude oil prices took a breather on Tuesday following news the U.S. is halting its planned attacks on Iran, although the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. West Texas Intermediate crude for June was down $0.07 or 0.1 percent at $108.59 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide April data for export orders and Q1 numbers for current account later today. In March, export orders surged 65.9 percent on year, while the current account surplus in Q4 was $69.93 billion.