Continued Selling Pressure Called For Taiwan Shares

The Taiwan stock market stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, retreating more than 225 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 17,100-point plateau and it’s forecast to open in the red again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over tax rates in the United States. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following weakness from the cement companies and a mixed picture from the financial and technology stocks.

For the day, the index lost 105.14 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 17,096.97 after trading between 17,066.17 and 17,428.15.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial fell 0.30 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.15 percent, Fubon Financial lost 0.49 percent, E Sun Financial sank 0.56 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company eased 0.17 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 2.62 percent, Hon Hai Precision tanked 2.08 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.16 percent, Catcher Technology plunged 2.90 percent, MediaTek shed 0.40 percent, Formosa Plastic was down 0.46 percent, Asia Cement skidded 1.15 percent, Taiwan Cement plummeted 2.87 percent and CTBC Financial and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages showed little movement early on Thursday but headed due south in the afternoon to finish firmly in the red.

The Dow tumbled 321.41 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 33,815.90, while the NASDAQ skidded 131.81 points or 0.94 percent to end at 13,818.41 and the S&P 500 sank 38.44 points or 0.92 percent to close at 4,134.98.

The afternoon sell-off came following reports that President Joe Biden plans to propose nearly doubling the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals to fund spending on childcare and education.

Earlier in the day, traders saw a Labor Department report unexpectedly show a continued decline in initial jobless claims last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors noted another steep drop in U.S. existing home sales in March.

Crude oil futures rebounded from early losses to settle slightly higher on Thursday, gaining for the first time in three sessions as worries about the energy demand outlook weighed on oil prices early in the day. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up by $0.08 or 0.1 percent at $61.43 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release March numbers for retail sales and industrial production later today. In February, sales were up 12.81 percent in year and output gained an annual 2.96 percent.