Taiwan Stock Market Has Flat Lead For Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 100 points or 0.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 20,420-point plateau and it's expected to see little movement on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher ahead of key data points this week. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the finance, plastic and cement stocks, while the technology companies were mixed and the steel shares were soft.

For the day, the index gained 80.10 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 20,417.70 after trading between 20,379.83 and 20,487.83.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.62 percent, while Mega Financial added 0.63 percent, First Financial climbed 1.10 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.16 percent, E Sun Financial advanced 0.93 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 0.38 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation climbed 0.97 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.63 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 4.42 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.24 percent, MediaTek dropped 0.86 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.60 percent, Novatek Microelectronics sank 0.84 percent, Formosa Plastics improved 0.57 percent, Nan Ya Plastics jumped 1.58 percent, Asia Cement rallied 1.46 percent, Taiwan Cement was up 0.10 percent, China Steel slumped 0.35 percent and CTBC Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as the major averages were fairly volatile on Monday but finished mixed and little changed.

The Dow dipped 11.24 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 38,892.80, while the NASDAQ rose 5.43 points or 0.03 percent to close at 16,253.80 and the S&P 500 eased 1.95 points or 0.04 percent to end at 5,202.39.

The choppy trading on the day came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of closely watched inflation data later in the week.

The inflation data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates, as Federal Reserve officials have repeatedly said they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before cutting rates.

Wednesday will also see the release of the minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting, which could also shed additional light on officials' thinking on rates.

Oil prices drifted lower on Monday amid slightly easing geopolitical tensions after Israel removed its troops from Southern Gaza. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended down $0.48 or 0.55 percent at $86.43 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release March numbers for consumer prices later today; in February, overall inflation was up 0.15 percent on month and 3,08 percent on year.