Taiwan Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, surging 670 points or 5.1 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,170-point plateau although the rally may stall on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with oil and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the cement, plastic and technology shares, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index advanced 167.34 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 14,174.90 after trading between 14,076.94 and 14,217.30.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial lost 0.36 percent, while Mega Financial climbed 1.46 percent, CTBC Financial shed 0.69 percent, Fubon Financial collected 1.44 percent, First Financial slid 0.39 percent, E Sun Financial perked 0.21 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company improved 0.79 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 2.05 percent, Hon Hai Precision strengthened 1.50 percent, Largan Precision advanced 0.99 percent, Catcher Technology spiked 2.50 percent, MediaTek fell 0.43 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.71 percent, Formosa Plastics increased 1.60 percent, Nan Ya Plastics jumped 1.93 percent, Asia Cement soared 3.97 percent, Taiwan Cement surged 6.22 percent and Novatek Microelectronics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, bounced higher in the afternoon but then a late swoon sent them all into the red at the close.

The Dow dropped 211.16 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 33,536.70, while the NASDAQ slumped 127.11 points or 1.12 percent to end at 11,196.22 and the S&P 500 lost 35.68 points or 0.89 percent to close at 3,957.25.

The volatility on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following last week's rally.

The lower close on the day came despite comments from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard that added to optimism about a slower pace of rate hikes.

Crude oil prices slumped Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China, a downward revision in demand growth forecast by OPEC and a stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $3.09 or 3.5 percent at $85.87 a barrel.