Renewed Consolidation Likely For Taiwan Shares

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 180 points or 0.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 23,730-point plateau although it figures to hand back those gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over inflation and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics, among others.

For the day, the index jumped 242.79 points or 1.03 percent to finish at 23,730.25 after trading between 23,488.42 and 23,732.58.

Among the actives, Mega Financial rose 0.25 percent, while First Financial collected 0.55 percent, E Sun Financial gained 1.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company increased 1.39 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation spiked 1.40 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.55 percent, Largan Precision dropped 0.91 percent, Catcher Technology fell 0.24 percent, MediaTek added 0.67 percent, Delta Electronics strengthened 1.54 percent, Novatek Microelectronics improved 0.93 percent, Formosa Plastics advanced 0.90 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rallied 1.49 percent, Asia Cement climbed 1.08 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial and Fubon Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened slightly lower on Friday but headed steadily lower throughout the day, ending at session lows.

The Dow plummeted 748.63 points or 1.69 percent to finish at 43,428.02, while the NASDAQ stumbled 438.36 points or 2.20 percent to close at 19,524.01 and the S&P 500 sank 104.39 points or 1.71 percent to 6,013.13. For the week, the Dow and the NASDAQ both dropped 2.5 percent, while the S&P tumbled 1.8 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than expected in February.

The substantial deterioration by consumer sentiment came amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations, which spiked to 4.3 percent in February from 3.3 percent in January, reaching the highest level since November 2023.

Oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, weighed down by concerns over the outlook for demand, and data showing a jump in crude inventories. A stronger dollar also fueled oil's decline. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April lost $2.08 or 2.9 percent at $70.40 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 0.5 percent in the week.