Taiwan Stock Market May Find Support On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 110 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 21,790-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key economic data later in the day. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics.

For the day, the index lost 66.26 points or 0.30 percent to finish at the daily low of 21,792.12 after moving as high as 22,003.71.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.86 percent, while Mega Financial slid 0.38 percent, CTBC Financial eased 0.27 percent, Fubon Financial rallied 1.71 percent, E Sun Financial declined 1.21 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.46 percent, Hon Hai Precision jumped 1.69 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 6.34 percent, Catcher Technology spiked 1.80 percent, MediaTek fell 0.39 percent, Delta Electronics retreated 1.30 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 1.82 percent, Formosa Plastics slumped 1.91 percent, Taiwan Cement shed 0.61 percent, China Steel stumbled 1.48 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation, First Financial, Nan Ya Plastics and Asia Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday but trended to the upside as the day progressed and ended mixed.

The Dow slumped 120.62 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 38,747.42, while the NASDAQ rallied 151.02 points or 0.88 percent to close at a record 17,343.55 and the S&P 500 added 14.53 points or 0.27 percent to end at 5,375.32 - also a record.

The advance by the tech-heavy NASDAQ was partly due to a surge by shares of Apple (AAPL), with the tech giant surging 7.3 percent to a record after unveiling new AI features that may drive users to upgrade their devices.

But traders are looking ahead to two potentially major market moving economic events later today - the Labor Department's inflation report for May, and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for the economy and interest rates.

Oil futures settled slightly higher Tuesday as caution reigned ahead of inventory data and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July ended up by $0.16 at $77.90 a barrel.