Taiwan Stock Market Tipped To Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,040 points or 7.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 14,540-point plateau and it's got another soft lead for Thursday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with technology, semiconductor and oil stocks expected to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index dipped 8.96 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 14,537.35 after trading between 14,481.06 and 14,657.66.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial tumbled 1.65 percent, while Mega Financial dropped 0.96 percent, CTBC Financial lost 0.91 percent, Fubon Financial declined 1.60 percent, First Financial shed 0.77 percent, E Sun Financial weakened 0.83 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company strengthened 1.46 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 2.90 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.24 percent, Catcher Technology sank 0.80 percent, MediaTek advanced 0.97 percent, Delta Electronics retreated 1.54 percent, Novatek Microelectronics jumped 1.99 percent, Formosa Plastics slumped 1.35 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plummeted 2.43 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.61 percent, Taiwan Cement plunged 2.81 percent and Hon Hai Precision was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 stayed in the red all day, while the Dow bounced back and forth across the unchanged line but also finished lower.

The Dow eased 39.09 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 33,553.83, while the NASDAQ tumbled 174.75 points or 1.54 percent to close at 11,183.66 and the S&P 500 sank 32.94 points or 0.83 percent to end at 3,958.79.

The weakness on Wall Street came as treasuries moved sharply higher, extending the upward move in the previous session and affecting technology stocks in particular.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a significant increase in U.S. retail sales in October. Also, the Federal Reserve noted an unexpected decline in U.S. industrial production last month. In addition, the National Association of Home Builders reported a continued decrease in U.S. homebuilder confidence in November.

Crude oil prices slipped Wednesday amid concerns about the outlook for demand and the resumption of Russian oil shipments to Hungary. Oil prices fell despite data showing a larger-than-expected drop in crude inventories in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $1.33 or 1.5 percent at $85.59 a barrel.