Soft Start Predicted For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market headed south again on Monday, one session after snapping the two-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 180 points or 0.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 23,565-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing U.S. tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets are also expected to open under pressure.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology stocks. For the day, the index sank 164.94 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 23,565.31 after trading between 23,461.43 and 23,605.22. Among the actives, Mega Financial and Delta Electronics both dipped 0.13 percent, while Fubon Financial skidded 1.08 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.17 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tumbled 1.83 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation eased 0.11 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.55 percent, Largan Precision added 0.37 percent, Catcher Technology strengthened 1.23 percent, MediaTek spiked 2.32 percent, Novatek Microelectronics and Formosa Plastics both rallied 1.28 percent, Nan Ya Plastics advanced 0.88 percent, Asia Cement rose 0.24 percent and CTBC Financial and Cathay Financial were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded quickly and finished mixed.

The Dow added 33.19 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 43,461.21, while the NASDAQ tumbled 237.08 points or 1.21 percent to close at 19,286.93 and the S&P 500 sank 29.88 points or 0.50 percent to end at 5,983.25.

The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 ended the day firmly in the red after President Donald Trump said previously delayed tariffs on Canada and Mexico are "going forward on time." The volatility on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to the release of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA). The AI darling and market leader is scheduled to release its fourth quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday.

Oil prices climbed higher on Monday as fresh sanctions by the United States on Iran raised the possibility of a drop in global supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April settled higher by $0.30 at $70.70 a barrel. Closer to home, Taiwan will provide January figures for industrial production later today; in December, output was up 19.97 percent on year.