Flat Lead Called For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had plunged more than 740 points or 4.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 16,380-point plateau and it's likely to remain rangebound again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement, although bargain hunting would likely limit any downside. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the cement and technology shares, while the plastics were up and the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 135.39 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 16,381.31 after trading between 16,344.29 and 16,583.95.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial slid 0.22 percent, while Mega Financial perked 0.14 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.43 percent, First Financial rose 0.38 percent, Fubon Financial eased 0.16 percent, E Sun Financial gained 0.41 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.92 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.46 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.47 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.22 percent, Catcher Technology lost 0.60 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 1.87 percent, Novatek Microelectronics sank 0.64 percent, Formosa Plastics improved 0.63 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gathered 0.45 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.51 percent, Taiwan Cement declined 1.40 percent, China Steel rallied 2.26 percent and MediaTek was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday but recovered to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 25.96 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 34,500.66, while the NASDAQ shed 26.12 points or 0.20 percent to close at 13,290.78 and the S&P 500 eased 0.65 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,369.71.

For the week, the Dow shed 2.2 percent, the S&P lost 2.1 percent and the NASDAQ sank 2.6 percent.

The lack of direction on Wall Street came as traders remained cautious amid concerns the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates higher for longer to control inflation.

The market had maintained a negative bias thanks to hawkish minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting and higher bond yields, but bargain hunting pared the losses.

Oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending gains from the previous session after data indicated a drop in output, while a weaker dollar contributed as well to the uptick in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures added $0.86 or 1.1 percent to $81.25 a barrel. WTI Crude futures shed 2 percent for the week.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release July figures for export orders and Q1 data for current account later today. Export orders are expected to slide 16.5 percent on year after tumbling 24.9 percent in June. The current account surplus in Q1 was $19.00 billion.