Taiwan Shares May Reverse Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 100 points or 0.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchanged now rests above the 22,185-point plateau although it may inch back to the upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key corporate and inflation data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to also hug the unchanged line.

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

For the day, the index sank 55.12 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 22,185.00 after trading between 22,059.51 and 22,205.11.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial retreated 1.25 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.38 percent, CTBC Financial dropped 0.90 percent, First Financial skidded 1.09 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.33 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company sank 0.84 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 2.00 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.82 percent, Largan Precision dipped 0.33 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 0.85 percent, MediaTek fell 0.41 percent, Delta Electronics improved 1.27 percent, Novatek Microelectronics slid 0.36 percent, Formosa Plastics lost 0.76 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 1.29 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.22 percent and E Sun Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is flat to positive as the major averages straddled the unchanged line throughout Tuesday's trade before finally finishing barely higher.

The Dow rose 10.00 points or 0.02 percent to finish at a record 41,250.50, while the NASDAQ added 29.05 points or 0.16 percent to close at 17,754.82 and the S&P 500 perked 8.96 points or 0.16 percent to end at 5,625.80.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling due to release its fiscal second quarter results later today.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending in the month of July, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, on Friday.

While the data is not likely to affect optimism the Fed will lower rates next month, it could impact expectations for how quickly the central bank cuts rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday after three successive days of strong gains, consolidating ahead of supply data due out later today. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for October slumped $1.89 or 2.5 percent at $75.53 a barrel.