Taiwan Stock Market May Head South Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 425 points or 3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,675-point plateau, although it's expected to see renewed selling pressure on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on inflation and interest rate concerns. 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 slightly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financials, plastics and cement companies and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index perked 16.10 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 14,677.20 after trading between 14,623.22 and 14,789.31.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.45 percent, while Mega Financial was up 0.14 percent, CTBC Financial increased 0.65 percent, Fubon Financial gathered 0.53 percent, First Financial climbed 0.57 percent, E Sun Financial advanced 0.91 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.62 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.38 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.46 percent, Largan Precision perked 0.26 percent, Catcher Technology plunged 2.95 percent, MediaTek fell 0.32 percent, Delta Electronics improved 0.78 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.56 percent, Nan Ya Plastics strengthened 1.04 percent, Asia Cement jumped 1.88 percent and Taiwan Cement spiked 1.92 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages quickly moved lower on Tuesday, rebounded midday but then faced renewed consolidation that lasted throughout the rest of the session.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent weakness.

The volatility on the day also came amid a surge in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note jumping to its highest levels in almost three months.

Potentially adding to the worries about interest rates, the Institute for Supply Management said service sector activity in the U.S. unexpectedly grew at a slightly faster rate in August. The report is a positive sign for the economy but may have led to concerns the Federal Reserve will see the data as an indication that it can continue to aggressively raise interest rates.

Oil futures settled barely higher on Tuesday after the decision by OPEC+ to cut output by 100,000 barrels per day in October, although the dollar's uptick limited oil's upside. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by a penny or $0.09% at $86.88 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see August data for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to add 7.1 percent on year, down from 19.4 percent in July. Exports are tipped to rise an annual 9.5 percent, easing from 14.2 percent a month earlier. The trade surplus is expected to come in at $4.23 billion, down from $5.03 billion in the previous month.