Taiwan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it picked up more than 675 points or 2.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 26,200-point plateau and it may spin its wheels again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with technology shares expected to fall under pressure. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the plastics, gains from the cement stocks and financials and a mixed picture from the technology shares. For the day, the index dropped 50.64 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 26,196.73 after trading between 26,045.47 and 26,394.03. Among the actives, Mega Financial collected 0.60 percent, while First Financial perked 0.17 percent, E Sun Financial improved 0.75 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 2.16 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.90 percent, Largan Precision skidded 1.06 percent, Catcher Technology fell 0.26 percent, MediaTek plunged 3.27 percent, Delta Electronics dipped 0.22 percent, Novatek Microelectronics shed 0.34 percent, Formosa Plastics retreated 1.42 percent, Nan Ya Plastics stumbled 3.02 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.68 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial, Fubon Financial and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but gradually turned lower and finished solidly in the red.

The Dow shed 171.50 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 46,121.28, while the NASDAQ lost 75.62 points or 0.33 percent to close at 22,497.86 and the S&P 500 sank 18.95 points or 0.28 percent to end at 6,637.97.

The extended pullback on Wall Street may have reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the artificial intelligence trade following Tuesday's weakness.

AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) slid by 0.9 percent after tumbling by 2.8 percent on Tuesday, while fellow AI player Oracle (ORCL) slumped by 1.7 percent.

Concerns about valuations may also have continued to weigh on the markets after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggesting he believes stocks may be overvalued.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday due to the increasing likelihood of Russian oil exports facing heavy U.S. sanctions. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for November delivery was up $1.61 or 2.54 percent at $65.02 per barrel.