Taiwan Shares May Open Under Pressure On Thursday

The Taiwan stock market stock on Wednesday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 525 points or 3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,565-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on mixed earnings news and rising crude oil prices. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Wednesday following gains from the financials, losses from the plastic stocks and mixed performances from the technology and cement companies.

For the day, the index eased 28.37 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 17,567.53 after trading between 17,497.74 and 17,628.81.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial was up 0.19 percent, while CTBC Financial collected 0.43 percent, Fubon Financial added 0.31 percent, First Financial gained 0.22 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.31 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.83 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.27 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.16 percent, Catcher Technology sank 0.75 percent, MediaTek climbed 1.41 percent, Formosa Plastic plunged 2.30 percent, Asia Cement shed 0.20 percent, Taiwan Cement advanced 0.95 percent and Mega Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks saw a lack of direction on Wednesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending modestly lower.

The Dow shed 164.55 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 33,820.38, while the NASDAQ lost 39.19 points or 0.28 percent to end at 14,051.03 and the S&P 500 fell 3.54 points or 0.08 percent to close at 4,183.18.

Stocks initially lacked direction as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement, although the choppy trading continued after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to maintain ultra-easy policy.

The Fed left interest rates and asset purchases unchanged even as the central bank upgraded its assessment of the U.S. economy, adding that the sectors most affected by the coronavirus pandemic remain weak but have improved.

Traders were also reacting to the latest earnings news from several big-name companies as Alphabet (GOOGL) and Visa (V) beat the street while Amgen (AMGN) and Boeing (BA) disappointed.

Crude oil prices moved higher Wednesday amid hopes energy demand will increase in the near future. A much smaller than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week also contributed to oil’s advance. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.92 or 1.5 percent at a six-week high of $63.86 a barrel.

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