Tech Shares May Weigh On Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 600 points or 2.3 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 26,800-point plateau and it may open to the downside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is tempered by concerns over the growing economic conflict between the United States and China. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses are likely to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index dropped 130.27 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 26,793.15 after trading between 26,764.06 and 27,507.16.

Among the actives, Mega Financial climbed 1.08 percent, while CTBC Financial dipped 0.16 percent, First Financial collected 1.03 percent, Fubon Financial added 0.46 percent, E Sun Financial advanced 0.92 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company improved 0.71 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.32 percent, Hon Hai Precision stumbled 3.29 percent, Largan Precision tanked 3.45 percent, Catcher Technology fell 0.28 percent, MediaTek sank 0.76 percent, Delta Electronics plunged 3.69 percent, Novatek Microelectronics declined 1.57 percent, Formosa Plastics slumped 2.23 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plummeted 4.06 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.27 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday but ticked steadily higher before finally finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 202.88 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 46.270.46, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.91 points or 0.76 percent to close at 22,521.70 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.41 points or 0.16 percent to end at 6,644.31.

The late-day pullback on Wall Street came as a post by President Donald Trump reinforced earlier concerns about trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

Trump accused China of an "economically hostile act" by purposefully not buying U.S. soybeans and threatened to terminate business with China having to do with cooking oil and other elements of trade as retribution.

The selling pressure was partly offset by upbeat earnings news from big-name financial companies, including Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

Crude oil prices pulled back sharply on Tuesday as renewed trade tensions between the U.S. and China have heightened, while forecasts predicting low demand in the months ahead also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $0.70 or 1.18 percent at $58.79 per barrel.