Taiwan Stock Market May Hand Back Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had slipped more than 270 points or 1.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 24,000-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, clouded by conflicting reports on U.S. tariffs. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses figure to tick lower on profit taking.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the technology stocks, weakness from the plastics and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index surged 556.41 points or 2.37 percent to finish at 24,003.77 after trading between 23,717.35 and 24,050.54.

Among the actives, Mega Financial plummeted 5.58 percent, while CTBC Financial perked 0.12 percent, First Financial plunged 7.80 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.47 percent, E Sun Financial improved 0.76 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company soared 4.89 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation sank 0.74 percent, Hon Hai Precision accelerated 4.57 percent, Largan Precision climbed 1.05 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.23 percent, MediaTek rallied 2.65 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.32 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tanked 2.84 percent, Formosa Plastics shed 0.52 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.40 percent and Asia Cement and Cathay Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher but quickly slumped and then spent the day hugging the line, ending little changed and on opposite sides.

The Dow stumbled 224.48 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 43,968.64, while the NASDAQ gained 73.27 points or 0.35 percent to close at 21,242.70 and the S&P 500 fell 5.06 points or 0.08 percent to end at 6,340.00.

The early strength on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump announced a 100 percent tariff on imports of semiconductors and chips but said companies that are building in the United States would be exempt.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as traders continued to express concerns about the economic impact of Trump's trade policies as new tariffs on dozens of countries took effect on Thursday.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week. Also, the Labor Department noted a significant rebound by labor productivity in the second quarter.

Crude oil prices fell Thursday on inconsistency in the U.S. stance on Russia and it's invasion on Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $0.49 or 0.76 percent at $63.86 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide July data for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In June, imports were up 17.3 percent on year and exports surged an annual 33.7 percent for a trade surplus of $12.07 billion.