Renewed Selling Pressure Predicted For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market ticked higher again on Friday, one session after snapping the five-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 525 points or 1.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just shy of the 15,410-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns for an economic slowdown and an increase in interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished barely higher on Friday following gains from the plastics, weakness from the cement companies and mixed performances from the financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index picked up 11.98 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 15,408.78 after trading between 15,346.26 and 15,458.45.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.53 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.69 percent, CTBC Financial gained 0.61 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dipped 0.19 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation climbed 1.18 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 0.89 percent, Largan Precision strengthened 1.23 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.28 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 0.11 percent, Nan Ya Plastics improved 0.57 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.70 percent, Taiwan Cement sank 0.88 percent and Catcher Technology, Delta Electronics, Fubon Financial, First Financial and E Sun Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 292.26 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 33.706.74, while the NASDAQ plummeted 260.08 points or 2.01 percent to close at 12,705.21 and the S&P 500 slumped 55.26 points or 1.29 percent to end at 4,228.48. For the week, the NASDAQ dove 2.6 percent, the S&P sank 1.2 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on recent strength in the markets, which lifted the major averages well off their June lows to their best levels in almost four months.

Traders may also have been moving money out of stocks ahead of this week's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Remarks by Federal Reserve officials at the annual symposium are likely to be in focus, as traders look for additional clues about the pace of future interest rate hikes.

Oil futures settled modestly higher on Friday but posted a weekly loss due to concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid fears of a possible recession in Europe. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.27 or 0.3 percent at $90.77 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide July data for export orders and unemployment later today. Export orders are tipped to rise 3.6 percent on year, slowing from 9.5 percent in June. The jobless rate in June was 3.73 percent and is expected to see little change.