Taiwan Stock Market May Find Traction On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping more than 220 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 27,530-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with oil and technology stocks expected to lead the markets higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the technology stocks, gains from the plastics and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index shed 116.65 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 27,532.26 after trading between 27,371.67 and 27,586.85.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.16 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.42 percent, CTBC Financial perked 0.16 percent, First Financial lost 0.51 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.33 percent, E Sun Financial was up 0.15 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company sank 0.68 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.22 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.44 percent, Largan Precision tumbled 1.73 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.26 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.63 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 0.98 percent, Novatek Microelectronics skidded 1.19 percent, Formosa Plastics spiked 3.21 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rallied 2.48 percent and Asia Cement improved 0.80 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened slightly higher and trended generally to the upside throughout the session.

The Dow climbed 144.20 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 46,734.61, while the NASDAQ jumped 201.40 point or 0.89 percent to close at 22,941.80 and the S&P 500 added 39.04 points or 0.58 percent to end at 6,738.44.

The slow start on Wall Street followed mixed corporate earnings news as companies like Tesla (TSLA) and IBM Corp. (IBM) disappointed but Honeywell (HON) beat the street.

Crude oil surged on Thursday, extending gains from the past two sessions, as the U.S. imposed sanctions against Russian oil majors. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $3.22 or 5.50 percent at $61.72 per barrel.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index spiked 4.8 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index jumped 3.0 percent.

Substantial strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 4.0 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Networking, semiconductor and steel stocks also saw considerable strength, while transportation stocks moved to the downside.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release unemployment data for September later today; in August, the jobless rate was 3.35 percent.