The Taiwan stock market on Monday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 330 points or 2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,400-point plateau and it may take further damage on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The TSE finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks, cement companies and plastics.
For the day, the index retreated 209.84 points or 1.34 percent to finish at the daily low of 15,392.82 after peaking at 15,514.80.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial slumped 1.50 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.08 percent, CTBC Financial dipped 0.22 percent, Fubon Financial shed 0.67 percent, First Financial lost 1.57 percent, E Sun Financial sank 0.81 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plunged 2.95 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 2.10 percent, Hon Hai Precision jumped 1.91 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.34 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.54 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.66 percent, Delta Electronics declined 1.49 percent, Novatek Microelectronics stumbled 1.93 percent, Formosa Plastics eased 0.23 percent, Nan Ya Plastics fell 0.27 percent, Asia Cement was down 0.71 percent and Taiwan Cement dropped 0.82 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday and remained in the red throughout the session.
The Dow shed 34.99 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 33,891.02, while the NASDAQ tumbled 119.50 points or 1.00 percent to end at 11,887.45 and the S&P 500 sank 25.40 points or 0.61 percent to close at 4,111.08.
Concerns about the outlook for interest rates continued to weigh on Wall Street following last week's stronger than expected jobs data, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to speed up its pace for interest rate hikes.
Computer hardware stocks were under pressure, as were steel, housing, semiconductor and gold shares.
Oil prices climbed higher Monday on optimism energy demand from China will see a big jump after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly increased the prices of oil to be shipped to Asia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.72 or 1 percent at $74.11 a barrel.
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