Taiwan Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 280 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 16,550-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key employment data later this week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Monday following big gains from the technology stocks, weakness from the cement and plastic companies and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index jumped 203.57 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 16,557.31 after trading between 16,382.96 and 16,575.31.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.11 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.27 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.16 percent, E Sun Financial lost 0.41 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 1.91 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation strengthened 1.22 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.48 percent, Largan Precision gained 0.47 percent, Catcher Technology increased 0.55 percent, MediaTek rallied 1.36 percent, Delta Electronics surged 3.39 percent, Novatek Microelectronics climbed 1.18 percent, Formosa Plastics dipped 0.25 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dropped 0.30 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.63 percent, Taiwan Cement shed 0.45 percent and China Steel, CTBC Financial and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and finished the same way, little changed.

The Dow shed 74.15 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 33,433.35, while the NASDAQ jumped 88.45 points or 0.67 percent to close at 13,307.77 and the S&P 500 perked 0.34 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,288.39.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates continued to hang over the markets ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to a surge by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note jumping to its highest level in almost sixteen years.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management noted a modest slowdown in the pace of contraction in U.S. manufacturing activity in September. Also, the Commerce Department said construction spending in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in August.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday, hurt by a stronger dollar and concerns about prospects of rising supplies in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.97 or 2.2 percent at $88.82 a barrel.