Taiwan Bourse May Extend Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the six-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 825 points or 4.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 18,035-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uncertain ahead of the FOMC's rate decision and statement later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastic and cement companies.

For the day, the index dropped 85.00 points or 0.47 percent to finish at the daily low of 18,034.63 after peaking at 18,138.74.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial retreated 1.13 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.17 percent, CTBC Financial fell 0.35 percent, First Financial declined 1.12 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 0.77 percent, E Sun Financial stumbled 1.00 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.93 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.30 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.49 percent, Largan Precision skidded 0.99 percent, Catcher Technology sank 0.76 percent, MediaTek spiked 2.67 percent, Delta Electronics plunged 2.39 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tanked 2.31 percent, Formosa Plastics tumbled 2.17 percent, Nan Ya Plastics surrendered 1.77 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.38 percent, Taiwan Cement weakened 1.08 percent and China Steel lost 1.57 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday; the Dow turned higher and finished in the green, while the NASDAQ remained under water throughout the session and the S&P bounced back and forth across the line before ending slightly in the red.

The Dow climbed 133.86 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 38,467.31, while the NASDAQ dropped 118.15 points or 0.76 percent to close at 15,509.90 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.96 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,924.97.

The pullback by the NASDAQ came as traders cashed in on the recent strength in the tech sector ahead of the release of quarterly results from the likes of Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), software giant Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Meta Platforms (META).

Uncertainty ahead of today's Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement may also have inspired traders to book profits. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the accompanying statement could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted an unexpected increase in job openings in December. Also, the Conference Board reported a continued improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in January.

Crude oil prices moved sharply on Tuesday, largely offsetting the steep drop in the previous session after the International Monetary Fund raised its global growth forecast for 2024. West Texas Intermediate for March delivery jumped $1.04 or 1.4 percent to $77.82 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release preliminary Q4 figures for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 4.5 percent on year, accelerating from 2.32 percent in the previous three months.