Tech Shares May Support Taiwan Stock Market

The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the four-day losing streak in which it had retreated more than 360 points or 2.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,375-point plateau and it’s looking at a steady start on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the health of the financial sectors, although support from technology stocks should limit the downside. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished barely higher on Wednesday following gains from the plastics and mixed performances from the financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index perked 3.93 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 15,374.63 after trading between 15,284.46 and 15,398.40.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial lost 0.59 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.29 percent, CTBC Financial gathered 0.45 percent, First Financial collected 0.56 percent, Fubon Financial increased 0.52 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.31 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dipped 0.21 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.49 percent, Largan Precision spiked 2.24 percent, Catcher Technology gained 0.56 percent, MediaTek eased 0.15 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.01 percent, Novatek Microelectronics improved 0.73 percent, Formosa Plastics jumped 1.74 percent, Nan Ya Plastics advanced 0.78 percent, Taiwan Cement strengthened 1.56 percent, China Steel slumped 1.51 percent and E Sun Financial and Asia Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, but the Dow and S&P 500 quickly fell into the red while the NASDAQ stayed positive throughout the day.

The Dow stumbled 228.96 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 33,301.87, while the NASDAQ gained 55.19 points or 0.47 percent to close at 11,854.35 and the S&P 500 fell 15.64 points or 0.38 percent to end at 4,055.99.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders weighed upbeat tech earnings against renewed concerns about turmoil in the banking sector.

The rebound by the NASDAQ reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), among others.

On the other hand, shares of First Republic (FRC) extended the steep drop seen in the previous session, which came after the regional bank reported a loss of more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter, renewing concerns about turmoil in the banking sector.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods surged much more than expected in March amid a substantial rebound in orders for transportation equipment.

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower Wednesday as worries about the outlook for energy demand dragged down oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June were down $2.77 or 3.6 percent to settle at $74.30 a barrel.