The Taiwan stock market has ended lower now in three straight sessions, plummeting more than 300 points or 3.5 percent en route to a fresh three-month closing low. The Taiwan Stock Exchange finished just above the 8,530-point plateau, and now investors are looking to catch their breath when the market opens on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with an upward bias, although persistent concerns over the Greek debt problem may limit the upside. Property and technology stocks figure to provide support, although financials may weigh. The European markets finished lower and the U.S. bourses ended higher - and the Asian markets are generally tipped to follow the latter lead.
The TSE finished sharply lower again on Monday after taking damage from the plastic, technology, paper and textile sectors.
For the day, the index plunged 105.42 points or 1.22 percent to finish at 8,530.68 after trading between 8,518.66 and 8,685.33 on turnover of 94.755 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the decliners, Hon Hai Precision Industry shed 0.30 percent and HTC Corp. eased 0.10 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is fairly upbeat as stocks moved mostly higher on Monday, rebounding from initial weakness amid easing concerns about the Greek debt crisis. Bargain hunting also contributed to the strength on Wall Street following recent weakness.
While stocks initially moved lower on news that European finance ministers delayed their decision on extending $17 billion in additional financial assistance to Greece, selling pressure waned not long after the start of trading. The markets subsequently moved to the upside over the course of the morning, as traders expressed confidence that Greece will not be allowed to default and will eventually get its money.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has called for a confidence vote on his new government to be held Tuesday as he struggles to win support for the new austerity measures required to secure the additional funds from the European Union.
The strength that emerged on Wall Street also came amid a lack of major economic news, which is a positive for the markets since most of the recent data has disappointed. Later in the week, trading could be impacted by the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, which is due on Wednesday following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at near-zero levels, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as remarks from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Among individual stocks, Agrium (AGU) closed up by 4.1 percent after raising its second quarter earnings from continuing operations guidance to $4.10-$4.40 per share from $3.38-$3.88 per share, citing very strong retail performance and increasing nutrient pricing.
Meanwhile, PNC Financial Services (PNC) fell by 2 percent on news that the firm has agreed to buy the U.S. retail banking operations of Royal Bank of Canada (RY) for about $3.45 billion, topping an offer from BB&T Corp. (BBT).
The major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory but off their best levels of the day. The Dow advanced by 76.02 points or 0.6 percent to 12,080.38, the NASDAQ rose 13.18 points or 0.5 percent to 2,629.66 and the S&P 500 climbed 6.86 points or 0.5 percent to 1,278.36.
In economic news, Taiwan's export orders climbed 11.53 percent on year in May, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday, faster than the 10.14 percent growth in April. Economists had forecast growth to slow to 9.7 percent. On a monthly basis, export orders increased 0.57 percent.
Orders from the U.S. grew 17.54 percent year-on-year during the month while orders from Europe recorded a 23.88 percent growth. Orders from China rose just 3.57 percent from a year ago, while Japanese demand declined 8.77 percent annually.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.