Taiwan Stock Market May Extend Wednesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the four-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 850 points or 3.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 22,690-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with mild downside likely from the oil and technology stocks. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets also figure to see little movement.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index sank 160.44 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 22,688.36 after trading between 22,622.47 and 22,977.56.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.51 percent, while CTBC Financial dipped 0.16 percent, First Financial skidded 1.25 percent, Fubon Financial and Formosa Plastics both dropped 0.98 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.18 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company declined 1.44 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation lost 0.66 percent, Hon Hai Precision climbed 1.23 percent, Largan Precision tumbled 1.89 percent, Catcher Technology weakened 0.73 percent, MediaTek sank 0.78 percent, Delta Electronics fell 0.39 percent, Novatek Microelectronics slumped 0.93 percent, Nan Ya Plastics retreated 1,33 percent, Asia Cement shed 0.57 percent and Mega Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Wednesday's trade in negative territory before a late push saw them finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 139.53 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 43,408.47, while the NASDAQ slipped 21.33 points or 0.11 percent to close at 18,966.14 and the S&P 500 perked 0.13 points or 0.00 percent to end at 5,917.11.

The late rally was fueled by optimism ahead of the release of earnings results from tech darling Nvidia (NVDA); the results, which came after the markets closed, were solid but fell short of their lofty expectations.

The volatility seen late in the session also came as trading activity was somewhat subdued amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make more significant moves as they kept an eye on developments overseas amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday on weak demand concerns and data showing an increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December slipped $0.52 or 0.75 percent at $68.87 a barrel.