Continued Consolidation Called For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Monday snapped the five-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,300 points or 6.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,530-point plateau and it may take further damage on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on tariff concerns and sinking oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the plastics companies offered support.

For the day, the index stumbled 254.65 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 20,532.99 after trading between 20,320.80 and 20,885.54.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial and Fubon Financial both eased 0.16 percent, while Mega Financial strengthened 1.46 percent, CTBC Financial tanked 2.36 percent, First Financial sank 0.79 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.54 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.26 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation slumped 1.31 percent, Largan Precision and Hon Hai Precision both surrendered 3.39 percent, Catcher Technology stumbled 2.04 percent, MediaTek fell 0.38 percent, Delta Electronics climbed 1.13 percent, Novatek Microelectronics advanced 0.97 percent, Formosa Plastics soared 3.74 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rallied 2.43 percent and Asia Cement jumped 1.56 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday, rallied midday but turned lower into the finish to end in the red.

The Dow shed 98.60 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 41,218.83, while the NASDAQ dropped 133.49 points or 0.74 percent to close at 17,844.24 and the S&P 500 sank 36.29 points or 0.64 percent to end at 5,650.38.

The early pullback on Wall Street came as some traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets, which had lifted the major averages to their best levels in a month.

Renewed trade concerns also weighed on stocks after President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 100 percent tariff on movies produced in foreign countries.

However, early selling pressure waned following the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected increase in U.S. service sector activity in April.

Crude oil futures moved sharply lower on Monday to a four-year low after several members of OPEC+ agreed to increase oil production for a second month. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery tumbled $1.16 or 2 percent to $57.13 a barrel.