(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has ended lower in three straight sessions, slumping almost 300 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 17,970-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on geopolitical concerns over escalation of conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow a similar path.
The TSE finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and the technology stocks.
For the day, the index dropped 252.20 points or 1.38 percent to finish at 17,969.29 after trading between 17,840.38 and 18,159.51.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial stumbled 1.39 percent, while Mega Financial sank 1.05 percent, CTBC Financial surrendered 1.76 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 1.42 percent, First Financial lost 0.57 percent, E Sun Financial fell 0.66 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.79 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 1.86 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.42 percent, Largan Precision plunged 2.34 percent, Catcher Technology dropped 0.98 percent, MediaTek declined 1.77 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.15 percent, Formosa Plastic weakened 0.95 percent, Asia Cement dipped 0.44 percent and Taiwan Cement rose 0.21 percent.
The lead from Wall Street suggests consolidation as the major averages opened slightly lower on Tuesday but saw losses accelerate as the day progressed, ending firmly in the red.
The Dow plunged 482.57 points or 1.42 percent to finish at 33,596.61, while the NASDAQ tumbled 166.55 points or 1.23 percent to end at 13,381.52 and the S&P 500 dropped 44.11 points or 1.01 percent to close at 4,304.76.
The weakness on Wall Street came after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two Ukrainian separatist regions - Donetsk and Luhansk - as sovereign states and sent troops into those territories as "peacekeepers."
Describing the latest actions by Russia as the beginning of an invasion of Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the first tranche of U.S. sanctions on two large Russian financial institutions, VEB and Russia's military bank, and Russia's sovereign debt, as well as Russian elites and their family members.
The U.K. also announced a first tranche of sanctions on Russia, targeting five Russian banks and three "very high net worth" individuals.
Oil prices moved up sharply Tuesday on concerns over supplies following Russia's aggressive move into Ukraine. It is feared that a full-blown conflict in Ukraine could cause major disruption to crude supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $1.70 or 1.9 percent at $91.91 a barrel.
Closer to home, Taiwan will release January numbers for retail sales and industrial production later today, as well as Q4 current account data. In December, retail sales were up 3.7 percent on year and industrial output rose 9.98 percent, while the current account surplus in Q3 was $26.1 billion.
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