The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in three straight trading days, tumbling more than 390 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 10,580-point plateau and it may take additional damage on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to poor earnings results and a drop in crude oil prices. The European markets were flat and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower - and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The TSE finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the technology and steel stocks.
For the day, the index skidded 117.63 points or 1.10 percent to finish at 10,579.50 after trading between 10,540.15 and 10,692.19 on turnover of 158.37 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, China Steel shed 1.27 percent, while Taiwan Steel Union lost 2.50 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.22 percent, Innolux plunged 2.17 percent, Largan Precision skidded 1.08 percent, Hon Hai Precision tumbled 2.89 percent, Catcher Technology plummeted 2.84 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 1.29 percent, Mega Financial collected 0.39 percent and Cathay Financial and Fubon Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks failed to sustain an initial upward move and moved sharply lower on Tuesday.
The Dow shed 424.56 points or 1.74 percent to 24,024.13, while the NASDAQ lost 121.25 points or 1.70 percent to 7,007.35 and the S&P fell 35.73 points or 1.34 percent to 2,634.56.
The sell-off on Wall Street came as traders reacted to uninspired earnings news from several big-name companies, including 3M Corp. (MMM), Caterpillar (CAT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Travelers (TRV) and Coca-Cola (KO).
Selling pressure was also generated by a continued increase in U.S. treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note rising above 3 percent for the first time since 2014.
In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a bigger than expected increase in new home sales in March. Also, the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in consumer confidence in April.
Crude oil futures reversed course Tuesday, unable to extend four-year highs thanks to profit taking and Iran's resistance to further supply cuts. WTI light sweet oil was down 80 cents at $67.86.
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