The Taiwan stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one session after snapping the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 150 points or 1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 15,800-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian is upbeat on optimism following the inauguration of former Vice President Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and cement companies.
For the day, the index sank 71.19 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 15,806.18 after trading between 15,745.48 and 16,004.32.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial surrendered 1.69 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.37 percent, CTBC Financial declined 2.29 percent, Fubon Financial gave away 2.22 percent, First Financial dropped 1.91 percent, E Sun Financial lost 1.41 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spiked 3.19 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 1.70 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.43 percent, Largan Precision tanked 3.12 percent, Catcher Technology plunged 3.85 percent, MediaTek dropped 0.80 percent, Formosa Plastic retreated 1.72 percent, Asia Cement sank 1.66 percent and Taiwan Cement was down 1.92 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks opened higher and picked up steam as the day progressed, sending the major averages to fresh record closing highs.
The Dow spiked 257.86 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 31,188.38, while the NASDAQ surged 260.07 points or 1.97 percent to end at 13,457.25 and the S&P 500 jumped 52.94 points or 1.39 percent to close at 3,851.85.
The rally on Wall Street was fueled by Biden's inauguration. The former VP has called for additional stimulus and an accelerated coronavirus vaccine rollout, which has helped offset concerns about higher taxes and increased regulation under a Democratic administration.
The president is expected to sign several executive orders shortly after taking office, including orders to rejoin the Paris climate agreement and end former President Donald Trump's Muslim travel ban as well as the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border well.
The spike by the tech-heavy NASDAQ was partly due to a sharp increase by shares of Netflix (NFLX) after the video streaming giant reached a record closing high after reporting strong fourth quarter subscriber growth.
Crude oil prices rose on Wednesday amid hopes the Biden administration will step up stimulus to boost growth, leading to increased demand for energy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures contracts for February ended up $0.26 or 0.5 percent at $53.24 a barrel on expiration day.
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