Taiwan Shares May Extend Monday’s Losses

The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the five-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 950 points or 3.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 27,870-point plateau and it may take further damage on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, with weakness from the technology and oil sectors limiting the upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the technology stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and plastics companies.

For the day, the index slumped 331.08 points or 1.17 percent to finish at 27,866.94 after trading between 27,684.87 and 28,119.79.

Among the actives, Mega Financial collected 0.73 percent, while CTBC Financial dipped 0.16 percent, First Financial added 0.53 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 1.24 percent, E Sun Financial gained 0.61 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tumbled 2.03 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation perked 0.10 percent, Hon Hai Precision tanked 2.42 percent, Largan Precision shed 0.49 percent, Catcher Technology retreated 1.34 percent, MediaTek climbed 1.07 percent, Delta Electronics stumbled 1.71 percent, Novatek Microelectronics lost 0.54 percent, Formosa Plastics rallied 2.51 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dropped 0.98 percent, Asia Cement expanded 1.59 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but quickly slipped under water and spent the balance of the day hugging the line from below.

The Dow slumped 41.49 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 48,416.56, while the NASDAQ dropped 137.76 points or 0.59 percent to end at 23,057.41 and the S&P 500 sank 10.90 points or 0.16 percent to close at 6,816.51.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came on continued uncertainty about AI spending and the possibility of a tech bubble.

Traders were also reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key U.S. economic data in the coming days, including retail sales and inflation.

The data could impact the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement last Wednesday. While the Fed cut rates by another quarter point, as widely expected, officials’ projections showed significant differences of opinion about further rate cuts.

The price of crude oil retreated on Monday as lingering oversupply concerns offset worries about potential supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.62 or 1.1 percent to $56.82 per barrel.