(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, tumbling more than 340 point or 1.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 18,000-point plateau and it's looking at another red light for Tuesday's trade. The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, although crude oil prices may limit the downside. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.
The TSE finished sharply lower on Monday with damage across the board - especially among the financials, technology stocks and cement companies. For the day, the index plunged 313.27 points or 1.71 percent to finish at 17,997.67 after trading between 17,965.22 and 18,182.73. Among the actives, Cathay Financial skidded 2.13 percent, while Mega Financial dropped 0.90 percent, CTBC Financial shed 0.69 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 1.55 percent, First Financial lost 0.56 percent, E Sun Financial dipped 0.16 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tumbled 2.00 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation plunged 4.33 percent, Hon Hai Precision surrendered 1.89 percent, Largan Precision declined 1.42 percent, Catcher Technology retreated 1.60 percent, MediaTek tanked 3.91 percent, Delta Electronics stumbled 3.58 percent, Formosa Plastic slid 0.94 percent, Nan Ya Plastic was down 0.45 percent, Asia Cement fell 0.44 percent and Taiwan Cement weakened 0.84 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday and spent most of the day in the red before ending modestly lower.
The Dow tumbled 171.89 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 34,566.17, while the NASDAQ eased 0.24 points or 0.00 percent to close at 13,790.92 and the S&P 500 fell 16.97 points or 0.38 percent to end at 4,401.67.
The continued weakness on Wall Street came as traders kept a close eye on developments regarding the tensions between Ukraine and Russia. President Joe Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend but there was little progress in defusing the situation.
Traders also remained wary about the outlook for monetary policy following mixed remarks by Federal Reserve officials, with interest rates expected to rise as soon as next month.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday on rising concerns that Russia could attack Ukraine in the near future. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $2.36 or 2.5 percent at $95.46 a barrel, the highest settlement since September 2014.
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