Taiwan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red On Thursday

The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 80 points or 0.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,420-point plateau and it’s likely to extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuing anxiety over the outlook for interest rates and tumbling oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to open under pressure.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the technology stocks and mixed performances from the financials and cement companies.

For the day, the index dropped 144.23 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 15,418.77 after trading between 15,345.93 and 15,541.17.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial skidded 1.14 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.45 percent, Fubon Financial shed 0.50 percent, First Financial advanced 0.94 percent, E Sun Financial gained 0.61 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tumbled 1.74 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 2.08 percent, Hon Hai Precision fell 0.49 percent, Largan Precision declined 2.21 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.66 percent, Delta Electronics plunged 2.52 percent, Novatek Microelectronics plummeted 3.76 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 0.44 percent, Taiwan Cement sank 0.78 percent and Catcher Technology, CTBC Financial, Nan Ya Plastics and Asia Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but faded late, allowing only the NASDAQ to finish in the green.

The Dow shed 84.50 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 33,045.09, while the NASDAQ rose 14.77 points or 0.13 percent to close at 11,507.07 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.29 points or 0.16 percent to end at 3,991.05.

The mixed close on Wall Street followed the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most recent monetary policy meeting. The minutes revealed a “few participants” favored raising rates by 50 basis points versus the 25 basis point rate hike that was ultimately announced.

The minutes noted all participants continued to anticipate that ongoing rate increases would be appropriate to achieve the Fed’s dual goals of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, extending their losing streak to six consecutive sessions on concerns about the outlook for global demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery plunged $2.41 or 3.1 percent to $73.95 a barrel on its first day as the front month contract.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide January data for industrial production later today; in December, production slumped 7.93 percent on year.

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