Losses May Accelerate For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Monday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 200 points or 1.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,420-point plateau and it's tipped to open under pressure again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on rising treasury yields and ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and cement companies.

For the day, the index eased 16.87 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 17,421.48 after trading between 17,398.10 and 17,516.61.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial gained 0.43 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.91 percent, CTBC Financial eased 0.19 percent, Fubon Financial climbed 0.94 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.86 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation climbed 1.01 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.50 percent, Largan Precision advanced 0.85 percent, Catcher Technology slid 0.26 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.48 percent, Delta Electronics rose 0.31 percent, Novatek Microelectronics improved 0.78 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 0.25 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rallied 0.88 percent, Asia Cement increased 0.48 percent, Taiwan Cement skidded 1.02 percent, China Steel was up 0.19 percent and First Financial and E Sun Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday, pared their losses but still ended firmly in the red.

The Dow dropped 41.06 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 36,204.44, while the NASDAQ slumped 119.54 points or 0.84 percent to close at 14,185.49 and the S&P 500 sank 24.85 points or 0.54 percent to end at 4,569.78.

A rebound by treasury yields contributed to the weakness on Wall Street, as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note bounced off its lowest levels in three months.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

In economic news, The Commerce Department released a report showing factory orders pulled back by much more than expected in the month of October.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Monday, pushing the most active futures contract to a nearly three-week low amid worries about the outlook for demand and skepticism about OPEC output cuts. The dollar's rise also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $1.03 or 1.4 percent at $73.04 a barrel, the lowest settlement since November 16.