Renewed Selling Pressure 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 two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 80 points or 0.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,600-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns about growth and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday as large gains from the technology stocks were dented by weakness from the financials, plastics and cement companies.

For the day, the index added 94.70 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 15,598.49 after trading between 15,387.38 and 15,617.03.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial declined 1.61 percent, while Mega Financial collected 1.20 percent, CTBC Financial dipped 0.22 percent, Fubon Financial retreated 1.67 percent, First Financial sank 0.75 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.60 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.15 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation soared 2.70 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.99 percent, Largan Precision tumbled 1.81 percent, Catcher Technology improved 0.81 percent, MediaTek skyrocketed 9.41 percent, Delta Electronics climbed 1.05 percent, Novatek Microelectronics spiked 1.96 percent, Formosa Plastics dropped 0.77 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 1.19 percent, Asia Cement stumbled 1.45 percent, Taiwan Cement plunged 3.45 percent and China Steel plummeted 3.50 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly negative as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday in a volatile session, finally ending mixed.

The Dow rose 5.14 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 32,661.84, while the NASDAQ lost 76.06 points or 0.66 percent to close at 11,379.48 and the S&P 500 sank 18.76 points or 0.47 percent to end at 3,951.39.

The choppy trading on Wall Street followed the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management on U.S. manufacturing activity in February. While the index improved to 47.7 from 47.4 in January, it remained in contraction.

The report also showed the prices index jumped to 51.3 in February from 44.5 in January, indicating a spike in raw materials prices after four months of decline - which added to recent concerns about inflation and the outlook for interest rates.

Treasury yields jumped following the release of the report, with the 10-year yield reaching its highest levels in over three months.

Crude oil futures settled at near two-week high on Wednesday, boosted by upbeat China factory data that raised the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April climbed $0.64 or 0.8 percent at $77.69 a barrel.