Taiwan Stock Market May Extend Wednesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday halted the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 150 points or 0.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 18,675-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with a lack of direction over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index slumped 76.85 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 18,676.31 after trading between 18,645.27 and 18,729.03.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dropped 0.78 percent, while Mega Financial was down 0.65 percent, CTBC Financial dipped 0.17 percent, First Financial skidded 0.83 percent, Fubon Financial slid 0.30 percent, E Sun Financial weakened 0.40 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company sank 0.87 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 1.52 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.48 percent, Largan Precision climbed 1.02 percent, Catcher Technology fell 0.50 percent, MediaTek eased 0.10 percent, Delta Electronics shed 0.51 percent, Novatek Microelectronics plunged 3.07 percent, Formosa Plastics slumped 0.27 percent, Nan Ya Plastics retreated 0.49 percent, Asia Cement rose 0.25 percent, Taiwan Cement declined 0.46 percent and China Steel slipped 0.20 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and spent the vast majority of the session in the red, with only a late spurt lifting the Dow and S&P barely into the green.

The Dow added 48.44 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 38,612.24, while the NASDAQ lost 49.91 points or 0.32 percent to close at 15,580.87 and the S&P 500 rose 6.29 points or 0.13 percent to end at 4,981.80.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates weighed on the markets for much of the session, with the major averages falling to their worst levels after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting revealed most officials remain wary of cutting interest rates "too quickly."

However, the Fed said a couple of participants pointed to downside risks to the economy associated with maintaining an overly restrictive stance for too long. The late-day recovery may have reflected expectations the Fed will still eventually cut interest rates.

Oil prices rebounded from early losses and settled higher on Wednesday as concerns about supply disruptions in the Middle East outweighed weak outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $0.87 or 1.1 percent at $77.91 a barrel.