The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 570 points or 3.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 15,500-point plateau although it's tipped to bounce higher again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian is mixed to higher on the back of strong crude oil gains. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, cement companies and the technology stocks.
For the day, the index fell 56.60 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 15,500.70 after trading between 15,421.23 and 15,642.03.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial shed 0.70 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.00 percent, CTBC Financial declined 1.25 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.74 percent, First Financial surrendered 0.93 percent, E Sun Financial lost 0.78 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company climbed 1.20 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 3.10 percent, Hon Hai Precision plunged 3.26 percent, Largan Precision tumbled 1.81 percent, Catcher Technology dropped 0.96 percent, MediaTek shed 0.59 percent, Formosa Plastic retreated 1.41 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.81 percent and Taiwan Cement slid 0.93 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as stocks bounced back and forth across the unchanged line on Tuesday, finally settling with modest gains.
The Dow added 60.00 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 31,068.69, while the NASDAQ gained 36.00 points or 0.28 percent to end at 13.072.43 and the S&P 500 rose 1.58 points or 0.04 percent to close at 3,801.19.
Political concerns, rising coronavirus cases and uncertainty about near term trend for the market after an historic climb weighed on stocks.
Amid FBI warning about possible armed protests across the United States in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, a state of emergency has been declared in the District of Columbia.
Optimism about further economic stimulus in the U.S. and the rollout of coronavirus vaccines helped to nudge the markets higher. Investors are also looking ahead to quarterly earnings results.
Crude oil prices moved higher Tuesday, boosted by a weak dollar and Saudi Arabia's decision to cut production in the next two months. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended up $0.96 or 1.8 percent at $53.21 a barrel.
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