Rally May Stall For Taiwan Stock Market

The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 430 points or 3.1 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 14,900-point plateau although it figures to run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with several regional bourses ripe for profit taking, while an uptick in coronavirus cases may fuel the weak sentiment. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the technology and plastic stocks, while the financials were soft.

For the day, the index climbed 169.50 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 14,902.03 after trading between 14,720.25 and 14,937.13.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial shed 0.47 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.34 percent, CTBC Financial sank 0.76 percent, Fubon Financial skidded 1.07 percent, First Financial dropped 1.17 percent, E Sun Financial lost 0.78 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company climbed 1.13 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation plunged 3.39 percent, Hon Hai Precision skyrocketed 8.59 percent, Largan Precision soared 4.85 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.73 percent, MediaTek surged 6.02 percent, Formosa Plastic rose 0.31 percent, Asia Cement fell 0.46 percent and Taiwan Cement was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks shook off a steady start on Monday and headed sharply lower as the day progressed, cutting into recent gains.

The Dow tumbled 382.59 points or 1.25 percent to finish at 30,223.89, while the NASDAQ dropped 189.83 points or 1.47 percent to end at 12,698.45 and the S&P 500 sank 55.42 points or 1.48 percent to close at 3,700.65.

Upward momentum to start the New Year contributed to the initial strength on Wall Street, although buying interest waned shortly after the open. The subsequent pullback partly reflected profit taking after the Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record intraday highs.

Traders also were reluctant to push stocks higher amid uncertainty ahead of two key Senate runoffs in Georgia later today. Their outcome will determine which party controls the Senate and could have a major impact on what President-elect Joe Biden is able to accomplish.

The sharp pullback reflected concerns about the recent spike in coronavirus cases in several parts of the world, with a new strain of the virus being detected in the U.S. for the first time. Other countries, including the United Kingdom and Japan, are taking strong lockdown measures.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department reported a continued increase in construction spending in November.

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