Taiwan Stock Market May Take Further Damage On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 300 points or 1.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 21,660-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns over treasury yields and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses among the financial, technology, plastic and cement sectors.

For the day, the index tumbled 195.81 points or 0.90 percent to finish at the daily low of 21,662.50 after peaking at 21,906.10.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial tanked 2.11 percent, while Mega Financial stumbled 2.01 percent, CTBC Financial and Fubon Financial both stumbled 1.90 percent, First Financial slumped 1.60 percent, E Sun Financial skidded 1.76 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.92 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation sank 0.89 percent, Hon Hai Precision surrendered 2.70 percent, Largan Precision surged 3.64 percent, Catcher Technology shed 0.44 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.53 percent, Delta Electronics declined 1.44 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 1.93 percent, Formosa Plastics lost 1.49 percent, Nan Ya Plastics and Taiwan Cement both plunged 2.21 percent, Asia Cement plummeted 2.06 percent and China Steel weakened 1.03 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened firmly lower on Wednesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow plunged 411.32 points or 1.06 percent to finish at 38,441.54, while the NASDAQ slumped 99.30 points or 0.58 percent to close ta 16,920.58 and the S&P 500 sank 39.09 points or 0.74 percent to end at 5,266.95.

The weakness on Wall Street came amid a continued increase by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note climbing to its highest levels in nearly a month.

The continued advance by treasury yields has added to recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of key inflation data later in the week.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for interest rates, and the likely adverse impact high borrowing costs will have on energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $0.60 at $79.23 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see Q1 figures for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 6.51 percent on year - accelerating from 4.93 percent in the three months prior.