The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 145 points or 1.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange settled just above the 8,975-point plateau, although the market is poised to see a mild recovery on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly flat amid mixed earnings news and a dearth of economic data. The European and U.S. markets finished slightly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Monday, dragged into the red by weakness from the technology stocks.
For the day, the index dropped 70.98 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 8,975 on turnover of 81.15 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, MediaTek tumbled 5.07 percent, while AU Optronics lost 4.98 percent, Innolux plunged 6.25 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.71 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation slid 0.42 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as stocks showed a lack of direction on Monday before finishing slightly higher as the tech-heavy NASDAQ ended the session at another new record closing high.
The Dow added 13.96 points or 0.1 percent to 18,100.41, while the NASDAQ rose 8.72 points or 0.2 percent to 5,218.86 and the S&P 500 crept up 1.64 points or 0.1 percent to 2,128.28.
The lackluster performance came as traders stayed on the sidelines amid the lack of major U.S. economic data.
Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of earnings news from Apple (AAPL), Yahoo (YHOO), Verizon (VZ), General Motors (GM), Coca-Cola (KO), and Microsoft (MSFT).
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