Taiwan Shares Tipped To Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 450 points or 2.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,760-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is bleak on rising concerns about the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financials, gains from the cement companies and mixed performances from the plastic and technology sectors.

For the day, the index shed 32.67 points or 0.16 percent to finish at the daily low of 20,763.53 after peaking at 20,883.69.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial retreated 1.42 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.25 percent, CTBC Financial dropped 0.93 percent, First Financial eased 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 1.14 percent, E Sun Financial sank 0.55 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company lost 0.49 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 1.53 percent, Hon Hai Precision plunged 2.22 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.24 percent, MediaTek surged 3.02 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 1.80 percent, Novatek Microelectronics jumped 1.68 percent, Formosa Plastics improved 0.70 percent, Nan Ya Plastics shed 0.51 percent, Asia Cement climbed 1.19 percent, Taiwan Cement rose 0.31 percent, China Steel fell 0.35 percent and Largan Precision was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and stayed in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow plunged 422.16 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 38,461.51, while the NASDAQ slumped 136.28 points or 0.84 percent to close at 16,170.36 and the S&P 500 sank 49.27 points or 0.95 percent to end at 5,160.64.

The early sell-off on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing U.S. consumer prices advanced by slightly more than expected in March, also causing a surge in treasury yields.

The data added to recent worries the Federal Reserve will hold off on lowering interest rates amid ongoing inflation concerns. Fed officials have repeatedly said they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before they consider cutting rates.

The minutes of the central bank's latest monetary policy meeting, released later in the day, revealed Fed officials were already not convinced inflation is moving sustainably down to 2 percent after January and February readings on core and headline inflation had been firmer than expected.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday on rising geopolitical tensions amid reports of a likely strike by Iran against Israel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.98 at $86.21 a barrel.