(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 110 points or 0.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,360-point plateau although it's likely to open under pressure again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week, while slumping oil prices also may weigh. 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 slightly higher on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and cement companies.
For the day, the index improved 32.72 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 17,360.72 after trading between 17,337.47 and 17,439.85.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial was down 0.22 percent, while Mega Financial strengthened 1.41 percent, CTBC Financial improved 1.31 percent, First Financial collected 0.91 percent, Fubon Financial slid 0.47 percent, E Sun Financial added 0.39 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.61 percent, Largan Precision plunged 2.52 percent, Catcher Technology lost 0.52 percent, MediaTek fell 0.22 percent, Delta Electronics eased 0.16 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rallied 1.59 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.37 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.24 percent, Taiwan Cement dropped 0.86 percent, China Steel gained 0.57 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Hon Hai Precision and Nan Ya Plastics were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major average opened higher on Wednesday but couldn't hold the gains and eventually finished under water.
The Dow dropped 70.13 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 36,054.43, while the NASDAQ sank 83.20 points or 0.58 percent to end at 14,146.71 and the S&P 500 lost 17.84 points or 0.39 percent to close at 4,549.34.
The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of a report from payroll processor ADP showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by less than expected in November.
The weaker than expected private sector job growth added to recent optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.
However, stocks retreated as traders chose to lighten commitments due to concerns about possible overbought conditions in the market ahead of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday, extending losses to a fifth straight day after data showed a large increase in gasoline inventories in the U.S. last week, raising concerns about the outlook for fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $2.94 or 4.1 percent at $69.38 a barrel.
