Taiwan Stock Market May Hand Back Monday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market rebounded on Monday, one session after snapping the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 260 points or 2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 12,950-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start for Tuesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets mixed to lower amid soft earnings news and ahead of the FOMC's policy announcement later this week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the technology stocks and mixed performances from the financials and the cement companies.

For the day, the index advanced 161.33 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 12,949.75 after trading between 12,826.34 and 12,977.61.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial skidded 1.18 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.34 percent, CTBC Financial sank 0.73 percent, Fubon Financial dropped 0.97 percent, First Financial improved 0.81 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.22 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.77 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 2.09 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.44 percent, Largan Precision accelerated 2.21 percent, Catcher Technology strengthened 1.50 percent, MediaTek surged 4.42 percent, Delta Electronics eased 0.19 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.24 percent, Asia Cement added 0.54 percent, Taiwan Cement lost 0.82 percent and Nan Ya Plastics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red on Monday and remained that way throughout the session.

The Dow slumped 128.85 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 32,732.95, while the NASDAQ sank 114.31 points or 1.03 percent to end at 10,988.15 and the S&P 500 dropped 29.08 points or 0.75 percent to close at 3,871.98.

The Dow posted a gain of almost 14 percent in October, the biggest monthly return since January 1976. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ added 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, last month.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by another 75 basis points - its fourth straight rate hike - to fight soaring inflation.

Also weighing were disappointing earnings results from the likes of Apple Inc. (AAPL), Amazon Inc (AMZN), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.TO), Meta Platforms Inc (META) and Intel (INTC).

Crude oil prices fell Monday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China following a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases. A rise in oil output in the U.S., and a firm dollar also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $1.37 or 1.6 percent at $86.53 a barrel.