More Pain Predicted For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it jumped more than 450 points or 3.1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 14,730-point plateau and it may take further damage on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on rising concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index tumbled 251.86 points or 1.68 percent to finish at the daily low of 14,728.88 after moving as high as 14,957.82.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial plunged 3.38 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.32 percent, CTBC Financial stumbled 1.54 percent, Fubon Financial retreated 1.35 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.21 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tumbled 2.25 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation surrendered 1.98 percent, Hon Hai Precision tanked 2.37 percent, Catcher Technology lost 0.57 percent, MediaTek declined 1.89 percent, Delta Electronics shed 0.50 percent, Novatek Microelectronics sank 0.67 percent, Formosa Plastics plummeted 2.02 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 1.17 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement skidded 1.19 percent and Largan Precision and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains negative as the major averages opened lower and continued deeper into the red as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow retreated 350.76 points or 1.03 percent to finish at 33,596.76, while the NASDAQ tumbled 225.05 points or 2.00 percent to close at 11,014.89 and the S&P 500 dropped 57.58 points or 1.44 percent to end at 3,941.26.

The extended sell-off on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes next week, recent upbeat economic data has raised concerns about how much further the central bank will raise rates at future meetings.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened in the month of October.

Crude oil prices dropped to an 11-month low on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand as uncertainty and consequences of a continued Fed tightening weighed on the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $2.68 or 3.5 percent at $74.25 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see November data for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to add 0.6 percent on year, down from 8.2 percent in October. Exports are tipped to fall an annual 6.7 percent after dipping 0.5 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus id called at $3.2 billion, up from $2.99 billion a month earlier.