Taiwan Stock Market Poised To Head South Again On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market rebounded on Monday, one session after snapping the three-day winning streak in which it jumped more than 450 points or 3.1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,980-point plateau although it's expected to see renewed consolidation on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns for the economy and for the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were firmly in the red and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished barely higher on Monday as gains from the steel and cement companies were offset by weakness from the technology stocks and a mixed picture from the financials. For the day, the index perked 10.06 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 14,980.74 after trading between 14,969.97 and 15,088.06. Among the actives, Cathay Financial tanked 2.61 percent, while Mega Financial eased 0.16 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.11 percent, Fubon Financial retreated 1.50 percent, First Financial rose 0.19 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.41 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company sank 0.71 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.22 percent, Catcher Technology shed 0.28 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 0.82 percent, China Steel gained 0.69 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.52 percent, Asia Cement improved 0.86 percent, Taiwan Cement perked 0.15 percent and Hon Hai Precision, MediaTek, Largan Precision and Formosa Plastics were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened modestly lower and the losses accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 482.78 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 33,947.10, while the NASDAQ slumped 221.56 points or 1.93 percent to close at 11,239.94 and the S&P 500 sank 72.86 points or 1.79 percent to end at 3,998.84.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following last Friday's stronger-than-expected jobs data.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes next week, continued labor market tightness and elevated inflation may still lead the central bank to raise rates higher than currently anticipated. A drop in treasuries compounded the uncertainty.

Adding to the worries about where rates will peak, the Institute for Supply Management said that U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly accelerated in November.

Oil prices fell on Monday as strong U.S. service data raised the prospects for more aggressive moves by the Federal Reserve. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for January ended lower by $3.05 or 3.8 percent at $76.93 a barrel. Closer to home, Taiwan will see November numbers for consumer prices later today; in October, overall inflation was up 0.12 percent on month and 2.72 percent on year, while wholesale prices spiked an annual 11.09 percent.