Lower Open Predicted For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 310 points or 2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,100-point plateau and tipped to open under pressure again on Wednesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets remains soft on concerns over an economic slowdown and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses form the financial shares, technology stocks, cement companies and plastics.

For the day, the index dropped 149.21 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 15,095.89 after trading between 15,086.43 and 15,225.17. Among the actives, Cathay Financial slumped 1.07 percent, while Mega Financial weakened 1.68 percent, CTBC Financial tumbled 2.26 percent, Fubon Financial sank 1.02 percent, First Financial surrendered 1.69 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.90 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.18 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 2.51 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 0.90 percent, Largan Precision declined 1.04 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.28 percent, MediaTek added 0.60 percent, Delta Electronics retreated 1.30 percent, Formosa Plastics lost 0.137 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was down 1.13 percent, Asia Cement fell 0.47 percent and Taiwan Cement shed 0.76 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation again on Wednesday as the major averages shook off early support and finished slightly lower.

The Dow dropped 154.02 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 32,909.59, while the NASDAQ eased 0.27 points or 0.00 percent to close at 12,381.30 and the S&P 500 dipped 9.26 points or 0.22 percent to end at 4,128.73.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as traders were cautious ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central bank's annual Jackson Hole economic symposium later this week, which may provide clues about the bank's outlook for the economy and interest rates.

In economic news, Markit Economics said its manufacturing PMI slowed in August, while the services and composite PMIs contracted at an accelerated rate. Also, the Commerce Department said new home sales slumped in July to their lowest reading since January 2016.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Tuesday with traders weighing the prospects of OPEC and allies cutting output to support prices in the event of Iranian crude entering the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September jumped $3.38 or 3.7 percent at $93.74 a barrel.