Taiwan Shares May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, retreating almost 230 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,550-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again for Tuesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on trade concerns emanating from protests in China. The European and U.S. markets were solidly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financials, technology stocks, plastics companies and cement shares.

For the day, the index dropped 221.64 points or 1.50 percent to finish at 14,556.87 after trading between 14,503.12 and 14,638.19.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial retreated 1.29 percent, while Mega Financial declined 1.28 percent, CTBC Financial dropped 0.89 percent, First Financial eased 0.19 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.21 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tanked 3.51 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 3.06 percent, Hon Hai Precision fell 0.50 percent, Largan Precision added 0.66 percent, MediaTek plunged 3.30 percent, Delta Electronics surrendered 2.98 percent, Novatek Microelectronics skidded 1.02 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 2.89 percent, Nan Ya Plastics weakened 1.43 percent, China Steel plunged 2.96 percent, Taiwan Cement slumped 1.64 percent, Asia Cement stumbled 1.22 percent and Catcher Technology and Fubon Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened lower on Monday and the losses accelerated as the day progressed, closing near session lows.

The Dow plunged 497.57 points or 1.45 percent to finish at 33,849.46, while the NASDAQ tumbled 176.86 points or 1.58 percent to close at 11,049.50 and the S&P 500 slumped 62.18 points or 1.54 percent to end at 3,963.94.

Concerns about developments in China fueled the substantial pullback on Wall Street, as widespread protests against the Beijing's zero-Covid restriction policy broke out over the weekend.

The weakness on Wall Street may also have reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next month's Federal Reserve meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes next month, the minutes of the central bank's early November meeting suggested some officials think rates will be to be raised higher than previously anticipated.

Crude oil prices shook off early weakness and moved higher on Monday amid speculation that OPEC will seriously consider a new production cut at its meeting later this week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January gained $0.96 or 1.3 percent at $77.24 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see final Q3 figures for gross domestic product later today; in the three months prior, GDP was up 3.05 percent on year.