Soft Start Seen For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday ended the six-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 400 points or 2.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,850-point plateau and it's likely to open under pressure again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with technology and oil stocks likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were mostly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial, technology and cement companies.

For the day, the index retreated 77.05 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 17,853.76 after trading between 17,784.97 and 17,956.74.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial and First Financial both shed 0.55 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.26 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.31 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.39 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.33 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.48 percent, Largan Precision tanked 2.96 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.03 percent, MediaTek plunged 3.35 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.12 percent, Novatek Microelectronics declined 1.35 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gained 0.30 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.72 percent, Taiwan Cement lost 0.43 percent and China Steel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, CTBC Financial and Formosa Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averaged opened lower on Tuesday and only the Dow was able to peek barely into positive territory by the session's end.

The Dow rose 25.50 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 37,715.04, while the NASDAQ tumbled 245.41 points or 1.63 percent to end at 14,765.94 and the S&P 500 sank 27.00 points or 0.57 percent to close at 4,742.83.

The weakness in the broader markets came as traders continued to cash in on recent strength, particularly among technology stocks.

A steep drop by shares of Apple (AAPL) weighed on the tech sector, with the iPhone maker tumbling by 3.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month after Barclays downgraded its rating on the company's stock to Underweight from Equal Weight.

The price of crude oil couldn't hold early gains and showed a substantial downturn on Tuesday over escalating Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery surged nearly $2 to a high of $73.64 a barrel early in the session but pulled back sharply to close down $1.27 or 1.8 percent at $70.38 a barrel.