Taiwan Stock Market May Test Support At 17,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, tumbling more than 380 points or 2.1 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,160-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Wednesday with broadly based carnage, especially among the technology, finance and plastic sectors.

For the day, the index retreated 185.08 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 17,161.79 after trading between 17,151.58 and 17,361.05.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial slumped 1.59 percent, while Mega Financial surrendered 3.37 percent, CTBC Financial weakened 1.43 percent, First Financial dropped 1.51 percent, Fubon Financial skidded 1.51 percent, E Sun Financial sank 1.60 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 0.17 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation plummeted 4.33 percent, Hon Hai Precision declined 1.40 percent, Largan Precision plunged 3.49 percent, Catcher Technology retreated 2.00 percent, MediaTek stumbled 1.79 percent, Delta Electronics tanked 3.45 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 4.13 percent, Formosa Plastics was down 2.45 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 2.75 percent, Asia Cement fell 1.50 percent, Taiwan Cement shed 2.13 percent and China Steel slid 1.59 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Wednesday and stayed that way, although they managed to finish well off session lows.

The Dow dropped 94.45 point or 0.25 percent to finish at 37,266.67, while the NASDAQ slumped 88.72 points or 0.59 percent to close at 14,855.62 and the S&P 500 lost 26.77 points or 0.56 percent to end at 4,739.21.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates amid recent concerns the Federal Reserve won't lower rates as early as previously hoped.

Adding to worries the Fed will hold off on cutting rates, the Commerce Department released a report showing U.S. retail sales increased by more than expected in December.

A separate report from the Federal Reserve also showed an unexpected uptick in U.S. industrial production last month.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, although concerns about the outlook for oil demand and a firm dollar limited the uptick in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February rose $0.16 at $72.56 a barrel.