Taiwan Stock Market Overdue For Support On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in eight straight sessions, plummeting more than 1,300 points or 8.3 percent along the way. The Taiwan stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,365-point plateau although it may finally find traction on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with support expected from the financials, technology stocks and oil companies. The European markets were solidly higher and the U.S. bourses were off on holiday and the Asian markets figure to open in the green.

The TSE finished sharply lower again on Monday following losses from the financial shares and cement companies, while the plastics and technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index retreated 273.72 points or 1.75 percent to finish at the daily low of 15,367.58 after peaking at 15,667.68.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial tanked 2.26 percent, while Mega Financial tumbled 1.98 percent, CTBC Financial declined 1.92 percent, Fubon Financial dropped 0.99 percent, First Financial eased 0.19 percent, E Sun Financial fell 0.34 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.60 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation advanced 0.84 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.46 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 3.28 percent, Catcher Technology retreated 1.52 percent, MediaTek climbed 1.08 percent, Delta Electronics plunged 3.08 percent, Formosa Plastics gained 0.94 percent, Nan Ya Plastics skidded 1.08 percent, Asia Cement surrendered 2.42 percent and Taiwan Cement stumbled 1.89 percent.

Wall Street and many of the commodity markets were off on Monday for the Juneteenth holiday, but the European markets finished with solid gains.

Germany's DAX jumped 139.34 points or 1.06 percent to finish at 13,265..60, London's FTSE spiked 105.56 points or 1.50 percent to close at 7,121.81 and the CAC 40 in France gained 37.44 points or 0.64 percent to end at 5,920.09.

Bargain hunting was a big part of that following the weakness from last week that were fueled by worries about a recession and bets of bigger interest-rate hikes from major central banks.

The rally was also fueled by European Central bank President Christine Lagarde, who reaffirmed on Monday that the ECB will hike interest rates by 25 basis points twice this summer to fight inflation. Investors had worried that sharper rate hikes might be on the docket, sparking recession concerns.

Investors also await a congressional appearance by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell this week that could highlight the U.S. central bank's resolve to guide inflation back to the Fed's 2 percent target.