Rally May Stall For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in two straight trading days, gathering more than 550 points or 2.7 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,030-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with a touch of upside amidst a lack of catalysts. The European markets were up slightly and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The TSE finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the technology and cement stocks, while the financial and plastics sectors were mixed. For the day, the index improved 161.68 points or 0.81 percent to finish at 20,034.41 after trading between 19,972.07 and 20,073.75. Among the actives, Cathay Financial and Nan Ya Plastics both perked 0.16 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.40 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.25 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.91 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company climbed 1.01 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.56 percent, Hon Hai Precision spiked 2.52 percent, Largan Precision sank 0.67 percent, Catcher Technology strengthened 1.39 percent, MediaTek stumbled 2.17 percent, Delta Electronics soared 3.03 percent, Novatek Microelectronics jumped 1.99 percent, Formosa Plastics lost 0.73 percent, Asia Cement rallied 1.59 percent and CTBC Financial and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests little movement as the major averages opened higher on Monday, slumped mid-session but rallied to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow advanced 114.09 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 40,227.59, while the NASDAQ eased 16.81 points or 0.10 percent to close at 17,366.13 and the S&P 500 perked 3.54 points or 0.06 percent to end at 5,528.75.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they look ahead to the release of key earnings and economic news in the coming days.

Quarterly results are due from the likes of Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT), Coca-Cola (KO), Visa (V), Eli Lilly (LLY), Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM).

The Labor Department's monthly jobs report is also likely to be in focus later this week along with the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.

Crude oil prices continued to slump on concerns over tariff threats and their likely impact on the global economy. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was down $115 or 1.82 percent to $61.87 per barrel.