Taiwan Stock Market Expected To Halt Its Slide

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping almost 220 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 17,115-point plateau although it figures to find traction on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic because of an improving outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and the technology stocks, while the plastic and cement sectors were mixed.

For the day, the index lost 111.46 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 17,116.44 after trading between 17,082.54 and 17,340.82.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial and Fubon Financial both dropped 1.22 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.15 percent, CTBC Financial sank 0.76 percent, First Financial lost 0.53 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.45 percent, Hon Hai Precision plunged 3.12 percent, Largan Precision shed 0.44 percent, Catcher Technology surrendered 1.93 percent, MediaTek jumped 1.90 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 2.33 percent, Novatek Microelectronics declined 1.34 percent, Formosa Plastics eased 0.12 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rose 0.29 percent, Asia Cement rallied 2.28 percent, Taiwan Cement slumped 1.35 percent, China Steel added 0.34 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and E Sun Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened firmly higher on Wednesday but faded as the day progressed, finishing with only slight gains.

The Dow climbed 109.31 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 35,061.21, while the NASDAQ rose 4.42 points or 0.03 percent to close at 14,358.02 and the S&P 500 perked 10.74 points or 0.24 percent to end at 4,565.72.

The strength on Wall Street extended the current upward trend, with the Dow closing higher for the eighth consecutive session. Encouraging inflation data helped trigger the recent advance, as traders grow increasingly optimistic the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its interest rate hikes.

Upbeat earnings news has added to the positive sentiment, with regional banks U.S. Bancorp (USB), Ally Financial (ALLY) and Citizens Financial (CFG) posting standout gains after reporting better than expected quarterly earnings.

Meanwhile, traders shrugged off a Commerce Department report showing a sharp pullback in housing starts last month.

Oil futures pared early gains and settled lower on Wednesday after data showed a smaller-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while a stronger dollar weighed as well. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August fell $0.40 or 0.5 percent at $75.35 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide June numbers for export orders later today; in May, orders were down 17.6 percent on year.