Taiwan Stock Market Due For Support On Wednesday

The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking almost 500 points or 3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 15,660-point plateau although it may find traction on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and little changed thanks to conflicting earnings data and a mild drop in crude oil prices. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Tuesday with damage across the board – especially from the financials, cement companies and technology stocks.

For the day, the index tumbled 287.69 points or 1.80 percent to finish at 15,658.85 after trading between 15,589.21 and 16,023.87.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dropped 1.22 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.52 percent, CTBC Financial declined 1.53 percent, Fubon Financial surrendered 1.90 percent, First Financial lost 1.21 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.62 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 2.53 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 4.20 percent, Hon Hai Precision sank 0.81 percent, Largan Precision shed 0.67 percent, Catcher Technology retreated 2.93 percent, MediaTek plunged 4.29 percent, Formosa Plastic was down 1.41 percent, Asia Cement dipped 0.73 percent and Taiwan Cement weakened 1.34 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks showed a lack of direction on Tuesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending slightly in the red.

The Dow fell 22.96 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 30,937.04, while the NASDAQ eased 9.93 points or 0.07 percent to end at 13,626.06 and the S&P 500 shed 5.74 points or 0.15 percent to close at 3,849.62.

The choppy trading on Wall Street partly reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets after the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 climbed to new record closing highs on Monday.

Optimism about additional stimulus under President Joe Biden has helped drive stocks higher in recent sessions, although reports have pointed to intensifying opposition from GOP lawmakers.

The lackluster performance also reflected a mixed reaction to earnings news from a number of big-name companies as 3M (MMM) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) moved higher beating the street – while fellow Dow components American Express (AXP) and Verizon (VZ) moved to the downside.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday, as traders were leery of the uncertain outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.16 or 0.3 percent at $52.61 a barrel.