The Taiwan stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, gathering more than 570 points or 3.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 15,550-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the largely overbought Asian markets is negative, with profit taking expected to limit any upside. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The TSE finished modestly higher on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and cement companies.
For the day, the index advanced 93.35 points or 0.60 percent to finish at the daily high of 15,557.30 after moving as low as 15,395.73.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial lost 0.58 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.17 percent, CTBC Financial dipped 0.25 percent, Fubon Financial eased 0.11 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.69 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation soared 4.49 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.46 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.16 percent, Catcher Technology dropped 1.19 percent, MediaTek jumped 1.55 percent, Formosa Plastic advanced 1.02 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.46 percent, Taiwan Cement gained 0.35 percent and First Financial and E Sun Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened in the red on Monday, made back a bit of ground but still ended firmly in the red.
The Dow skidded 89.28 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 31,008.69, while the NASDAQ tumbled 165.54 points or 1.25 percent to end at 13,036.43 and the S&P 500 lost 25.07 points or 0.66 percent to close at 3,799.61.
Profit taking contributed to the initial weakness on Wall Street after the major averages climbed to new record closing highs last Friday as traders cashed in on recent gains.
Concerns about developments in Washington also weighed on stocks as Democrats prepare another attempt to remove President Donald Trump from office. House Democrats are preparing to once again impeach Trump even though the president has less than two weeks left in his term.
Crude oil futures settled flat on Monday as rising coronavirus cases and tighter lockdown measures across the world raised concerns about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $52.25 a barrel, up 1 cent from the previous close.
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