The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, tumbling more than 270 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 10,700-point plateau and it may take additional damage on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets flat to lower amid concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed but little changed - and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the technology and steel companies, while the financials came in mixed.
For the day, the index lost 82.25 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 10,697.13 after trading between 10,687.25 and 10,774.73 on turnover of 135.448 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, Catcher Technology plunged 3.60 percent, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation dropped 1.09 percent, Innolux tumbled 2.13 percent, Hon Hai Precision skidded 1.19 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.32 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 4.82 percent, China Steel eased 0.21 percent, Taiwan Steel Union retreated 1.64 percent, Mega Financial collected 0.39 percent, Fubon Financial slid 0.40 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks fluctuated on Monday before climbing off their worst levels of the day to finish mixed.
The Dow shed 14.25 points or 0.06 percent to 24,448.69, while the NASDAQ fell 17.52 points or 0.25 percent to 7,128.60 and the S&P added 0.15 points or 0.01 percent to 2,670.29.
The weakness on Wall Street came amid concerns about rising treasury yields as traders expect rising inflation to lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
In economic news, the National Association of Realtors reported a bigger than expected gain in existing home sales in March.
Crude oil futures rose Monday, rebounding to four-year highs despite signs that Iran will nix the extension of OPEC's supply quota plan with Russia. June WTI oil settled at $68.64/bbl, up 24 cents or 0.4 percent.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com