Taiwan Bourse May Extend Wednesday’s Losses

The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 810 points or 3.9 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 21,680-point plateau and it’s likely to open in the red again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative after the Federal Reserve announced its well-telegraphed rate cut. The European and U.S. markets saw mild losses and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday, led to the downside by heavy losses among the technology stocks.

For the day, the index stumbled 171.24 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 21,678.84 after trading between 21,584.63 and 21,859.16.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.16 percent, while Mega Financial perked 0.13 percent, CTBC Financial rallied 2.75 percent, First Financial sank 0.73 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.35 percent, E Sun Financial added 0.54 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.63 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.28 percent, Hon Hai Precision plunged 3.87 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 4.58 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.21 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.21 percent, Delta Electronics declined 1.43 percent, Novatek Microelectronics crashed 6.11 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.44 percent and Formosa Plastics and Nan Ya Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages hugged the line until the Fed’s monetary policy announcement; after an initial spike, they turned lower and ended in the red.

The Dow sank 103.08 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 41,503.10, while the NASDAQ shed 54.76 points or 0.31 percent to close at 17,573.30 and the S&P 500 fell 16.32 points or 0.29 percent to end at 5,618.26.

The late-day volatility on Wall Street came after the Fed decided to lower interest rates for the first time in over four years, aggressively slashing rates by half a percentage point.

The economic projections provided by Fed officials at the meeting suggested the central bank will cut rates by another 50 basis points by the end of the year.

Fed officials also expect to continue lowering rates next year, with the projections indicating rates will be lower by another full percentage point by the end of 2025.

Thanks to profit taking, crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday, despite a drop in U.S. crude inventories and the rate cut. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended down $0.28 or 0.39 percent at $70.91 a barrel.

Closer to home, the central bank in Taiwan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting later today and then announce its decision on interest rates; the bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 2.00 percent.