Soft Start Predicted For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Monday ended the four-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 565 points or 2.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 22,965-point plateau although it's likely to open under water again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the U.S. presidential election and the Federal Reserve rate decision this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index advanced 185.31 points or 0.81 percent to finish at 22,965.39 after trading between 22,792.77 and 23,020.99. Among the actives, Cathay Financial improved 1.46 percent, while Mega Financial rallied 1.81 percent, CTBC Financial and Fubon Financial both accelerated 2.10 percent, E Sun Financial collected 1.86 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company gained 1.46 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation slumped 1.29 percent, Hon Hai Precision soared 2.88 percent, Largan Precision spiked 2.18 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 1.08 percent, MediaTek increased 0.39 percent, Delta Electronics climbed 1.15 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 1.70 percent, Formosa Plastics shed 0.64 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rose 0.24 percent and Asia Cement jumped 1.73 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, hugged the line for much of the day and finished in the red.

The Dow stumbled 257.59 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 41,794.60, while the NASDAQ shed 59.93 points or 0.33 percent to close at 18,179.98 and the S&P 500 sank 16.11 points or 0.28 percent to end at 5,712.69.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the U.S. elections on Tuesday, as Vice President Kamala Harris faces off against former President Donald Trump.

With polls showing an extremely tight race between Harris and Trump, the outcome of the presidential election may not be known on Election Day.

Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, which is due to be announced on Thursday. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another 25 basis points, but traders will be looking to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of future rate cuts.

Oil prices rose sharply on Monday, buoyed by OPEC's decision to delay plans to increase production, and on rising concerns about tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $1.98 or about 2.85% at $71.47 a barrel, extending gains to a fourth straight session.