Taiwan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 1,475 points or 3.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 47,100-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on persistent hostilities in the Middle East and the resulting spike in crude oil prices. The European markets were flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the technology and plastics companies were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index dropped 220.49 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 47,105.78 after trading between 47,023.73 and 47,578.24.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained under water throughout the trading day, ending at session lows.

The Dow tumbled 628.18 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 52,786.07, while the NASDAQ sank 85.58 points or 0.32 percent to close at 26,421.41 and the S&P 500 shed 45.08 points or 0.58 percent to end at 7,673.52.

The weakness on Wall Street came amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil due to the continued escalation of the conflict in the Middle East after the U.S. struck three Iranian crude oil carriers over the weekend.

Iran has threatened to retaliate against any new U.S. attacks on its assets and Saudi-led coalition forces vowed a resolute response to a wave of attacks from Houthi rebels.

Crude oil prices surged on Tuesday as U.S. forces and Iran continue to trade attacks, fueling supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was last up $1.31 or 1.43 percent at $92.79 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release August figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today; in July, imports were up 37.4 percent on year and exports rose an annual 32.9 percent for a trade surplus of TWD17.17 billion.