Losing Streak May Continue For Taiwan Shares

The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, stumbling more than 525 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 22,820-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on mixed corporate and economic news. The European and U.S. markets finished under water and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the technology stocks and plastics were offset by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index sank 106.16 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 22,820.43 after trading between 22,801.45 and 23,116.33.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial added 0.58 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.51 percent, First Financial perked 0.18 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.37 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.96 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.52 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.95 percent, Largan Precision lost 0.65 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.21 percent, MediaTek sank 0.77 percent, Delta Electronics fell 0.49 percent, Novatek Microelectronics was down 0.20 percent, Formosa Plastics declined 0.84 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 0.36 percent, Asia Cement was up 0.11 percent and Fubon Financial and CTBC Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but then bounced higher for most of the day before a late slump saw them finish in the red.

The Dow dropped 91.51 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 42,141.54, while the NASDAQ tumbled 104.82 points or 0.56 percent to close at 18,607.93 and the S&P 500 sank 19.25 points or 0.33 percent to end at 5,813.67.

The choppy trading came as investors reacted to a mixed batch of corporate earnings as Alphabet (GOOGL) and Snap (SNAP) rallied after good results, while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Caterpillar (CAT) stumbled after disappointing.

On the U.S. economic front, payroll processor ADP said private sector employment in the U.S. shot up much more than anticipated in October, although a a separate report released by the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic growth unexpectedly slowed in the third quarter.

Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week and on reports that OPEC may delay its planned output increase. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $1.40 or 2.1 percent at $68.61 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide preliminary Q3 data for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 3.4 percent on year following the 5.06 percent gain in the previous three months.