Little Movement Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 250 points or 1.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,020-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to slightly higher, with easing recession fears offset by interest rate concerns. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the cement stocks, gains from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology companies.

For the day, the index shed 15.63 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 15,020.41 after trading between 14,908.17 and 15,034.87.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial advanced 0.87 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.42 percent, CTBC Financial added 0.43 percent, Fubon Financial jumped 1.93 percent, First Financial sank 0.78 percent, E Sun Financial was up 0.18 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.78 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 2.61 percent, Largan Precision dropped 0.95 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.29 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.12 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.76 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.59 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement dipped 0.39 percent and Hon Hai Precision and Formosa Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages were unable to hold solid early gains, eventually hugging the line and finishing mixed.

The Dow rose 29.07 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 32,832.54, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.10 points or 0.10 percent to end at 12,644.46 and the S&P 500 eased 5.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 4,140.06.

The early strength on Wall Street extended a recent upward trend; easing concerns about a potential recession may have contributed to the continued upward move following last week's much stronger than expected jobs data.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as the strong jobs data has increased the likelihood of another 75-basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant bets ahead of the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data later this week.

Crude oil prices recovered after early losses and settled sharply higher on Monday as data showed a significant increase in oil purchases by China so far this month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.75 or 2 percent at $90.76 a barrel.