Tech Shares Likely To Weigh On Taiwan Bourse

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, climbing more than 100 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 16,360-point plateau although it's due for some heavy consolidation on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with tech shares likely to weigh after disappointing earnings. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology shares and steel companies, while the financials and cement stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 49.13 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 16,358.89 after trading between 16,320.71 and 16,459.34.

Among the actives, Mega Financial skidded 1.07 percent, while CTBC Financial advanced 0.82 percent, First Financial dipped 0.19 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.17 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation strengthened 1.55 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.71 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.28 percent, MediaTek improved 0.74 percent, Delta Electronics sank 0.81 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rallied 1.40 percent, Nan Ya Plastics fell 0.32 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.13 percent, Taiwan Cement was up 0.16 percent, China Steel surged 3.39 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Largan Precision, Cathay Financial, E Sun Financial and Formosa Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but quickly headed south and finished near session lows.

The Dow dropped 105.45 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 33,035.93, while the NASDAQ plunged 318,65 points or 2.43 percent to close at 12,821,22 and the S&P 500 sank 60.91 points or 1.43 percent to end at 4,186.77.

The particularly steep drop by the NASDAQ reflected a negative reaction to quarterly results from Alphabet (GOOGL), with the Google parent plunging 9.5 percent after the company reported Q3 earnings that beat estimates but had weaker than expected revenue from its cloud business.

A renewed increase by treasury yields also weighed on the markets, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note spiking after ending the previous session little changed.

The surge by yields came as traders looked ahead to key economic data in the coming days, including a preliminary reading on third quarter GDP on Thursday and personal income on Friday.

Oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak amid likely disruptions in supply due to the tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $1.65 or 1.97 percent at $85.39 a barrel.