Taiwan Stock Market May Extend Tuesday's Losses

(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 fallen almost 360 points or 1.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 23,020-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's interest rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion, although bargain hunting may take hold later in the day.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financials, gains from the technology stocks and a mixed picture from the plastics.

For the day, the index slipped 21.89 points or 0.10 percent to finish at the daily low of 23,018.01 after peaking at 23,223.51.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial shed 0.67 percent, while Mega Financial sank 0.76 percent, First Financial lost 0.54 percent, Fubon Financial retreated 1.28 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.73 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.92 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 2.65 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.55 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.20 percent, Catcher Technology slid 0.56 percent, MediaTek spiked 2.89 percent, Delta Electronics declined 1.53 percent, Novatek Microelectronics improved 0.42 percent, Formosa Plastics gained 0.42 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 0.60 percent, Asia Cement jumped 1.32 percent and CTBC Financial was unchanged.

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

The Dow tumbled 267.58 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 43,449.90, while the NASDAQ sank 64.83 points or 0.32 percent to close at 20,109.06 and the S&P 500 lost 23.47 points or 0.39 percent to end at 6,050.61.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected a pullback by technology stocks, which had led the way higher in the previous session - particularly among the networking and semiconductor stocks. Telecom, financial, housing and steel stocks also moved to the downside.

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another quarter-point, traders will pay close attention to the Fed's statement and latest economic projections, including their forecasts for rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for global demand, and possible excess supply in the market next year. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January ended down $0.63 or 0.9 percent at $70.08 a barrel.