(RTTNews) – The Taiwan stock market moved higher again on Friday, one day after it had ended the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped nearly 300 points or 2.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 12,875-point plateau although it figures to see renewed consolidation on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft with continued pressure expected on the technology stocks, along with concerns over the economic recovery. The European and U.S. markets were down on Friday and the Asian markets are tipped to follow that lead.
The TSE finished barely higher on Friday as gains from the plastic and chemical companies were offset by weakness from the financials and a mixed performance from the technology stocks.
For the day, the index was up 2.92 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 12,875.62 after trading between 12,841.09 and 12,927.81.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.38 percent, while Mega Financial slid 0.35 percent, CTBC Financial sank 0.53 percent, Fubon Financial dropped 0.92 percent, First Financial collected 0.24 percent, E Sun Financial declined 0.75 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.00 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.19 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.64 percent, Largan Precision fell 0.29 percent, Catcher Technology lost 0.54 percent, MediaTek spiked 2.00 percent, Formosa Plastic rallied 3.82 percent, Formosa Chemical soared 2.20 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.71 percent and Taiwan Cement was down 0.12 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks initially showed a lack of direction on Friday but fell firmly under pressure as the day progressed, extending recent losses.
The Dow dropped 244.58 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 27,657.42, while the NASDAQ skidded 117.02 points or 1.07 percent to end at 10,793.28 and the S&P 500 fell 37.54 points or 1.12 percent to close at 3,319.47. For the week, the Dow fell 0.1 percent and the NASDAQ and S&P both sank 0.6 percent.
The weakness on Wall Street was due to a continued slump by technology stocks, with tech giant Apple (AAPL) showing a significant drop. Big-name tech companies like Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), and Microsoft (MSFT) also posted notable losses.
Traders also expressed concerns for the economic outlook following the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy announcement and economic assessment. With the elections less than two months away, lawmakers seem unlikely to pass another stimulus bill to help the economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
In economic news, the Conference Board noted a continued increase in its leading U.S. economic indicators in August. Also, the University of Michigan saw a bigger than expected improvement in consumer sentiment in September.
Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday as prices edged up following a sharp drop in U.S. crude stockpiles and OPEC’s move to press for better compliance with output cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.14 or 0.3 percent at $41.11 a barrel.
Closer to home, Taiwan will release August numbers for export orders later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 8.2 percent on year after jumping 12.4 percent in July.
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