Taiwan Stocks Tipped To Head South On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 250 points or 1.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,050-point plateau and it's likely to see renewed consolidation again on Wednesday

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growth concerns, with energy and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index rose 29.87 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 15,050.28 after trading between 14,905.23 and 15,077.63.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.11 percent, while Mega Financial rallied 2.50 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.87 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.34 percent, First Financial jumped 1.77 percent, E Sun Financial accelerated 1.81 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.39 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.93 percent, Largan Precision strengthened 1.68 percent, Catcher Technology soared 4.97 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.12 percent, Delta Electronics rose 0.19 percent, Formosa Plastics was down 0.11 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.30 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.86 percent, Taiwan Cement perked 0.13 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow shed 58.13 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,774.41, while the NASDAQ tumbled 150.53 points or 1.19 percent to end at 12,493.93 and the S&P 500 fell 17.59 points or 0.42 percent to close at 4,122.47.

Technology stocks helped to lead Wall Street lower, with semiconductor stocks turning in some of the worst performances after Micron Technology (MU) warned that it may miss its previous guidance.

The weakness also came as traders looked ahead to the release of a highly anticipated reading on U.S. consumer price inflation later today.

Crude oil futures settled modestly lower Tuesday on concerns about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $90.50 a barrel.