The Taiwan stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one session after it had snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had fallen more than 105 points or 1.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange finished just below the 7,235-point plateau, and now traders are bracing for more pain when the market kicks off trade on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains negative, although they have taken heavy losses in recent sessions and are ripe for bargain hunting later in the day. The political situation in Greece remains the main culprit amid doubts regarding the country's international aid and rekindling worries that Greece could exit from the euro currency bloc. Providing support is better than expected U.S. economic data for industrial production and housing starts. The European and U.S. markets were lower again, and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The TSE finished sharply lower on Wednesday following heavy losses from the technology, finance, construction, cement, textile, paper, food and plastic sectors.
For the day, the index plummeted 161.07 points or 2.17 percent to finish at the daily low of 7,234.57 after peaking at 7,399.83 on turnover of 81.03 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the decliners, HTC dropped 6.59 percent, while Wowprime fell 3.47 percent, Hon Hai Precision Industry shed 3.04 percent, Mega Financial lost 3.23 percent and Cathay Financial retreated 2.53 percent.
The lead from Wall Street continues to be negative as stocks moved lower on Wednesday after failing to sustain an early upward move. The pullback came as worries about the political situation in Greece once again overshadowed a batch of upbeat U.S. economic data.
The downturn by the markets was partly due to reports indicating that the European Central Bank has stopped monetary policy operations with some Greek banks. A separate report cited two euro-area officials who said that the ECB has no plans to increase stimulus, adding to the selling pressure.
Stocks saw continued weakness following the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's April meeting, which showed that members of the Federal Open Market Committee remain divided on the prospects for a third round of quantitative easing. The minutes said "several" members are in favor of additional asset purchases if the economic recovery falters, up from "a few" potential advocates for QE3 a month earlier.
The early strength was due to some better than expected U.S. economic data, including a report from the Federal Reserve showing a much bigger than expected increase in industrial production in April. Output increased 1.1 percent in April, topping estimates for an increase of 0.5 percent.
Additionally, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. housing starts rose 2.6 percent to an annual rate of 717,000 in April from the revised March estimate of 699,000. Economists had expected housing starts to increase to 690,000 from the 654,000 originally reported for March. Also, building permits fell 7.0 percent to an annual rate of 715,000 in April from the revised March rate of 769,000.
The major averages all were near their worst levels of the day as the Dow slipped 33.45 points or 0.3 percent to finish at 12,598.55, while the NASDAQ fell 19.72 points or 0.7 percent to end at 2,874.04 and the S&P 500 dropped 5.86 points or 0.4 percent to 1,324.80. The losses extended a recent downward move by the major averages, with the Dow hitting a nearly four-month closing low, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 set new three-month lows.
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Market Analysis
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.