Soft Start Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market turned lower again on Thursday, one day after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 800 points or 3.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 21,960-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to ongoing tariff concerns and their effect on the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the plastics and technology stocks, while the financial sector came in mixed.

For the day, the index stumbled 316.68 points or 1.42 percent to finish at the daily low of 21,961.68 after peaking at 22,552.43.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dropped 0.90 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.76 percent, First Financial advanced 0.91 percent, Fubon Financial shed 0.56 percent, E Sun Financial jumped 1.72 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tanked 2.33 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation stumbled 2.46 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.47 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 6.62 percent, Catcher Technology declined 1.45 percent, MediaTek slumped 1.42 percent, Delta Electronics rose 0.26 percent, Formosa Plastics surrendered 2.49 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plunged 5.29 percent and Asia Cement, CTBC Financial and Novatek Microelectronics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red and continued to track lower throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 537.36 points or 1.30 percent to finish at 40,813.57, while the NASDAQ dropped 345.44 points or 1.96 percent to close at 17.303.01 and the S&P 500 sank 77.78 points or 1.39 percent to end at 5,521.52.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about President Donald Trump's trade policies after he suggested the U.S. would respond to the European Union's countermeasures with even more tariffs.

In economic news, the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in February. Also, the Labor Department unexpectedly saw a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil prices fell on Thursday amid prospects of excess supply in the market, and on concerns about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.13 or 1.7 percent at $66.55 a barrel.