Taiwan Stock Market May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two consecutive trading days, sinking more than 350 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,630-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on recession concerns and on the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the technology stocks and mixed performances from the financials, cement companies and plastics.

For the day, the index dropped 98.87 points or 0.67 percent to finish at the daily low of 14,630.01 after moving as high as 14,823.15.

Among the actives, CTBC Financial soared 2.90 percent, while Fubon Financial fell 0.34 percent, First Financial climbed 0.97 percent, E Sun Financial improved 0.83 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.63 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation and CK Hutchison both tumbled 1.91 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 0.97 percent, Largan Precision declined 1.31 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 0.86 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.24 percent, Delta Electronics tanked 2.16 percent, Formosa Plastics gained 0.92 percent, Nan Ya Plastics shed 0.79 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.85 percent, Taiwan Cement perked 0.15 percent and Cathay Financial, Mega Financial and China Steel were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower following a volatile Wednesday that saw the major averages bounce back and forth across the unchanged line before ending on opposite sides.

The Dow rose 1.58 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 33,597.92, while the NASDAQ sank 56.34 points or 0.51 percent to end at 10,958.55 and the S&P 500 dipped 7.34 points or 0.19 percent to close at 3,933.92.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

The Fed still seems poised to slow the pace of interest rate hikes, but recent upbeat economic data has raised concerns about how much further the central bank will raise rates at future meetings.

The recent selling on Wall Street partly reflects worries the Fed will need to push the economy into a prolonged recession in order to bring inflation down close to its 2 percent target.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a sharp increase in gasoline inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for January ended lower by $2.24 or 3 percent at $72.01 a barrel, losing for the fourth consecutive session.