Losing Streak May Continue For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 250 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 14,750-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on rising geopolitical tensions between the United States and China, and concerns that the economy is slowing. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the technology and plastic sectors, while the financials and cement companies were mixed.

For the day, the index tumbled 234.46 points or 1.56 percent to finish at 14,747.23 after trading between 14,663.46 and 14,860.94.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial weakened 1.32 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.42 percent, CTBC Financial surrendered 2.18 percent, First Financial eased 0.19 percent, E Sun Financial added 0.55 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tanked 2.38 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation plunged 2.98 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 0.92 percent, Largan Precision declined 2.17 percent, Catcher Technology slumped 1.47 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.59 percent, Formosa Plastics skidded 0.97 percent, Nan Ya Plastics stumbled 1.17 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement sank 0.89 percent and Delta Electronics and Fubon Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened deep in the red on Tuesday, pared some of the losses but still closed well in negative territory.

The Dow plummeted 402.23 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 32,396.17, while the NASDAQ dipped 20.22 points or 0.16 percent to close at 12,348.76 and the S&P 500 sank 27.44 points or 0.67 percent to end at 4,091.19.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as tensions climbed the U.S. and China due to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

In economic news, the Labor Department said the number of job openings in the United States fell by 605,000 from a month earlier to 10.7 million in June, the lowest in nine months and below market expectations of 11 million.

Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday, with traders weighing demand and supply prospects and looking ahead to this week's OPEC+ meeting. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.53 or 0.6 percent at $94.42 a barrel.