Lower Open Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, rallying almost 420 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 30,700-point plateau although it may hand back some of those gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to geopolitical concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down, likely consigning Asian markets at records highs to profit taking.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Tuesday as the financial shares and technology stocks were mostly in the green, while the plastics companies were soft.

For the day, the index jumped 139.92 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 30,707.22 after trading between 30,529.33 and 30,973.85.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.17 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.25 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.31 percent, Fubon Financial sank 0.84 percent, E Sun Financial fell 0.31 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company climbed 1.18 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation lost 0.72 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 0.88 percent, Largan Precision stumbled 2.41 percent, Catcher Technology vaulted 1.45 percent, MediaTek rallied 2.77 percent, Delta Electronics tanked 2.37 percent, Novatek Microelectronics gained 0.65 percent, Formosa Plastics plunged 3.13 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plummeted 3.86 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.27 percent and First Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but quickly headed south and spent most of the balance of the day in the red, finishing off session lows.

The Dow dropped 398.21 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 49,191.99, while the NASDAQ sank 24.03 points or 0.10 percent to close at 23,709.87 and the S&P 500 dipped 13.53 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,963.74.

The choppy trading by the broader markets reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook amid rising geopolitical tensions around the world and a flurry of proposals by President Donald Trump.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of December.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Tuesday, extending a recent surge amid increasing geopolitical risks due to escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which have raised output-and-supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was up $1.55 or 2.61 percent at $61.05 per barrel.