The Taiwan stock market has finished lower now in three straight sessions, plummeting more than 160 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange finished just above the 8,665-point plateau, and now investors are anticipating continued weakness at the opening of trade on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains broadly negative thanks to concerns over the health of the U.S. economy and the threat of debt contagion in Europe. Financials figure to be hit hard, along with technology, steel and oil stocks. The European and U.S. markers finished sharply lower, and the Asian bourses also are expected to track significantly lower.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Monday following losses among the construction, plastic, technology and textile sectors.
For the day, the index declined 83.70 points or 0.95 percent to finish at 8,665.85 after trading between 8633.55 and 8749.55 on turnover of 96.998 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, Hon Hai Precision Industry shed 1.43 percent and HTC Corp. added 1.34 percent.
Wall Street offers a heavy dose of pessimism as stocks saw substantial weakness on Monday, with traders expressing renewed concerns about the outlook for the global economy. The markets pulled back further off last Thursday's highs but remained well off their recent lows.
The weakness was partly in reaction to the much weaker than expected jobs data that was released last Friday. The Labor Department report showed that U.S. employment increased by just 18,000 jobs in June compared to expectations for an increase of more than 100,000 jobs. Additionally, the report showed an unexpected uptick in the unemployment rate to 9.2 percent.
Renewed worries about the financial situation in Europe also helped to drag stocks lower amid speculation that Italy may be the next casualty in the sovereign debt crisis.
Among individual stocks, Alcoa (AA) came under pressure ahead of the release of its quarterly results after the close of trading, with the aluminum giant closing down by 2.9 percent. The release of results from Alcoa is seen as the unofficial start of the earnings season.
Valeant Pharma (VRX) also closed lower after it agreed to buy Sanofi-Aventis' (SNY) dermatology unit Dermik for $425 million. The unit recorded total revenues of $425 million in 2010.Valeant said it expects the deal to be accretive to earnings in 2011.
After falling sharply in morning trading, the major averages moved roughly sideways throughout the afternoon. The Dow closed down 151.44 points or 1.2 percent at 12,505.76, the NASDAQ fell 57.19 points or 2 percent to 2,802.62 and the S&P 500 dropped 24.31 points or 1.8 percent to 1,319.49.
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