FX.co ★ Taiwan Shares Poised To Open Under Pressure On Tuesday

On Monday, the Taiwan stock market broke its two-day winning streak where it had seen a surge of more than 440 points or 2.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just below the 20,200-point mark, with a continued consolidation anticipated for Tuesday. Although the global predictions for Asian markets appear weak, the losses from the technology sector may be balanced by support from the oil companies. While the European markets showed mixed and static results, and the U.S. markets experienced a fall, the Asian markets are expected to fall somewhere in between. On Monday, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) ended slightly lower, as losses from financial and technology stocks were counterbalanced by gains from the plastic companies. The index fell 36.18 points or 0.18 percent to close at 20,192.25 after fluctuating between 20,172.80 and 20,285.38 during the day.

Active stocks on the day included Cathay Financial, which dropped 0.93 percent, Mega Financial decreased by 0.25 percent, CTBC Financial declined by 0.63 percent while First Financial rose 0.36 percent. Other stocks included Fubon Financial, which dropped 0.86 percent, E Sun Financial declined by 0.18 percent, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company lost 0.64 percent. Meanwhile, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 1.15 percent, Largan Precision gained 0.41 percent, Catcher Technology fell 1.17 percent, MediaTek decreased by 0.44 percent, and Delta Electronics declined by 1.54 percent.

The key influence from Wall Street was weak as the major averages saw red on Monday, remaining mostly in a downtrend during the trading session. The Dow fell 162.26 points or 0.41 percent to close at 39,313.64, while the NASDAQ decreased 44.35 points or 0.27 percent to close at 16,384.47. The S&P 500 fell 15.99 points or 0.31 percent to end at 5,218.19. A weak performance amidst tech stocks weighed on the markets, spearheaded by semiconductor behemoth Intel plunging as much as 4.7 percent following news of China phasing out microprocessors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices in government PCs and servers.

However, the selling pressure remained relatively muted, with traders seemingly hesitant to make significant moves prior to the release of key economic data in the ensuing days, including crucial inflation figures on Friday.

In economic developments, a report from the Commerce Department indicated a surprising decrease in new U.S. home sales in February. Oil prices saw an increase on Monday, driven by concerns about supply disruptions due to Ukraine's continued attacks on Russian refineries. A weakening dollar, triggered by expected interest rate cuts from central banks, also played a part in the surge in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended with an increase of $1.32 or 1.64 percent at $81.95 per barrel.