Lower Open Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the three-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 350 points or 2.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,450-point plateau although it figures to turn lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on continued concerns over the health of financial institutions. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Friday as the financials, technology stocks and plastics were mostly higher.

For the day, the index surged 231.86 points or 1.52 percent to finish at the daily high of 15,452.96 after moving as low as 15,337.97.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial increased 1.23 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.32 percent, CTBC Financial slid 0.24 percent, Fubon Financial improved 0.73 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.64 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.57 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation accelerated 2.31 percent, Hon Hai Precision strengthened 1.47 percent, Largan Precision dipped 0.22 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.08 percent, MediaTek spiked 2.25 percent, Novatek Microelectronics soared 4.07 percent, Formosa Plastics surged 2.49 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gained 2.14 percent, Asia Cement dropped 0.81 percent, Taiwan Cement perked 0.14 percent and Delta Electronics and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and pretty much stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 384.62 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 31,861.98, while the NASDAQ slumped 86.79 points or 0.74 percent to close at 11,630.51 and the S&P 500 dropped 43.64 points or 1.10 percent to end at 3,916.64. For the week, the NASDAQ soared 4.4 percent, the S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent and the Dow eased 0.2 percent.

The pullback on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on Thursday's rally amid lingering concerns about turmoil in the financial sector.

Traders also looked ahead to Wednesday's Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. CME Group's FedWatch tool currently indicates a 43.2 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged and a 56.8 percent chance of a 25 basis point rate hike.

In economic news, the Fed said U.S. industrial production was unexpectedly unchanged in February. Also, the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell for the first time in four months in March.

Crude oil prices sank Friday as rising concerns about the health of the banking sector continued to fuel worries about economic growth and the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April dropped $1.61 or 2.4 percent at $66.74 a barrel. WTI crude futures tumbled 13 percent in the week.