Soft Start Predicted For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slumping more than 370 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 17,660-point plateau and it's likely to open under pressure again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns that the outlook for interest rates may have been too optimistic. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, especially among the technology, finance and cement sectors.

For the day, the index plunged 294.45 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 17,559.31 after trading between 17,518.19 and 17,829.28.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial slumped 1.21 percent, while Mega Financial declined 1.65 percent, CTBC Financial lost 0.53 percent, First Financial dropped 0.92 percent, Fubon Financial weakened 1.21 percent, E Sun Financial sank 1.16 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company surrendered 2.53 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 2.50 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.48 percent, Largan Precision plunged 3.59 percent, Catcher Technology skidded 1.28 percent, MediaTek stumbled 2.85 percent, Delta Electronics retreated 1.77 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tanked 2.06 percent, Formosa Plastics was down 1.39 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slid 1.65 percent, Asia Cement fell 1.22 percent, Taiwan Cement lost 1.44 percent and China Steel slipped 1.11 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 284.85 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 37,430.19, while the NASDAQ dropped 173.73 points or 1.18 percent to close at 14,592.21 and the S&P 500 sank 38.02 points or 0.80 percent to end at 4,704.81.

The continued weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns investors have become too optimistic about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts.

Stocks saw some further downside as the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting reiterated officials widely expect to begin lowering rates in 2024, but they also highlighted an "unusually elevated degree of uncertainty" about the outlook.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said U.S. manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly slower rate in December. Also, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. edged down from an upwardly revised level in November.

The price of crude oil moved rebounded on Wednesday, regaining ground on concerns about further attacks by Houthi militants against ships in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery surged $2.32 or 3.3 percent to $72.70 a barrel.