Taiwan Shares May Reverse Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 750 points or 3.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 21,230-point plateau although it may see mild upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast is murky amid a lack of true catalysts. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, plastics and cement companies, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index dipped 34.88 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 21,236.75 after trading between 21,131.62 and 21,307.08.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial weakened 1.07 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.49 percent, CTBC Financial surrendered 2.08 percent, First Financial tumbled 1.90 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 1.22 percent, E Sun Financial and Asia Cement both declined 1.87 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company improved 0.72 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 1.51 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 0.90 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 4.10 percent, Catcher Technology jumped 1.60 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.26 percent, Delta Electronics perked 0.16 percent, Novatek Microelectronics skidded 0.98 percent, Formosa Plastics lost 1.03 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plunged 2.62 percent, Taiwan Cement tanked 1.48 percent and China Steel fell 1.39 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened lower but gradually picked up steam as the day progressed and ended with mild gains.

The Dow added 66.22 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 39,872.99, while the NASDAQ gained 37.75 points or 0.22 percent to close at a record 16,832.62 and the S&P 500 rose 13.28 points or 0.25 percent to end at a record 5,321.41.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came on renewed confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in the coming months, although recent comments from Fed officials have once again created some uncertainty.

While the likelihood rates will be lower by September remains high, the chances have fallen to 78.3 percent from close to 90 percent last week, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Another quiet day on the U.S. economic front may also have kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of the minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting later today.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, slumping for a second straight session amid concerns that the central bank might keep rates higher for a longer period. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June dropped to around $79.06 a barrel, down 0.74 or 0.93 percent.