Taiwan Stock Market May Extend Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market headed south again on Tuesday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 360 points or 2.1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 16,875-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautious ahead of key inflation data coming later this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks, plastics and cement companies.

For the day, the index lost 118.93 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 16,877.07 after trading between 16,812.59 and 17,043.56.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 1.29 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.63 percent, First Financial fell 0.35 percent, Fubon Financial lost 0.46 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.58 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.08 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 1.83 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.91 percent, Largan Precision dropped 0.93 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.28 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.27 percent, Delta Electronics sank 0.83 percent, Novatek Microelectronics plunged 2.34 percent, Formosa Plastics was down 0.59 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dove 1.00 percent, Asia Cement declined 0.62 percent, Taiwan Cement retreated 1.46 percent, China Steel slumped 0.88 percent and CTBC Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday, made back some ground as the day progressed but still finished solidly in the red.

The Dow dropped 158.64 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 35,314.49, while the NASDAQ slumped 110.07 points or 0.79 percent to close at 13,884.32 and the S&P 500 sank 19.06 points or 0.42 percent to end at 4,499.38.

The soft start on Wall Street may have been in response to the downward revision in the ratings of ten smaller banks by Moody's.

The markets got a bit of a boost when the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected U.S. GDP growth to rise by 1.9% this year; it also forecast a bump in the price forecast for oil prices.

In economic news, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to a three-month low of $65.5 billion in June, from a downwardly revised $68.3 billion in May. Also, the National Federation of Independent Business said the NFIB Small Business Optimism index rose for a third straight month in July.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Tuesday following an upgrade to this year's GDP growth projections in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.98 at $82.92 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release July numbers for consumer prices later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 1.9 percent on year, up from 1.75 percent in June.