Lower Open Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in two consecutive trading days, retreating more than 240 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 17,790-point plateau and it’s tipped to open in the red again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on renewed Covid-19 concerns and the resulting plunge in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow them lower.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the technology stocks were mitigated by support from the cement companies and a mixed picture from the financials.

For the day, the index lost 106.00 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 17,789.25 after trading between 17,708.15 and 17,854.35.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.17 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.30 percent, CTBC Financial slid 0.22 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.12 percent, First Financial gained 0.22 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.38 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.19 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 2.05 percent, Hon Hai Precision tanked 2.51 percent, Largan Precision dropped 0.98 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.53 percent, MediaTek plunged 3.97 percent, Delta Electronics plummeted 3.60 percent, Formosa Plastic retreated 1.91 percent, Asia Cement advanced 0.96 percent and Taiwan Cement gained 0.97 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is rough as the major averages opened sharply lower on Monday and continued to deteriorate as the session progressed.

The Dow plummeted 725.81 points or 2.09 percent to finish at 33,962.04, while the NASDAQ dropped 152.25 points or 1.06 percent to end at 14.274.98 and the S&P 500 sank 68.67 points or 1.59 percent to close at 4,258.49.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected concerns about a resurgence of the coronavirus as the delta variant contributes to a spike in infections in the U.S.

According to data from the CDC, the seven-day average of Covid-19 cases in the U.S. has jumped to nearly 30,000 after falling as low as 11,455 a month ago. That weighed heavily on travel stocks like cruise operators and airlines.

In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Home Builders reported an unexpected dip in U.S. homebuilder confidence in July.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday, weighed down by concerns about oversupply in the market after OPEC+ agreed to boost output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September sank $5.21 or 7.3 percent at $66.35 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release June numbers for export orders later today, with forecasts suggesting a surge of 29.45 percent on year – slowing from 34.5 percent in May.