Tech Shares May Weigh On Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping more than 30 points or 0.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,590-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower thanks to continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets are expected to split the difference.

The TSE finished barely lower on Friday as losses from the plastic and steel stocks were mitigated by support from the technology shares and mixed performances from the financials and cement companies.

For the day, the index eased 12.05 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 15,586.65 after trading between 15,546.11 and 15,628.30.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial perked 0.12 percent, while Mega Financial strengthened 1.56 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.67 percent, Fubon Financial slid 0.34 percent, First Financial improved 0.76 percent, E Sun Financial gathered 0.41 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 0.93 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.59 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.50 percent, Largan Precision rallied 2.04 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.08 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.20 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.68 percent, Novatek Microelectronics increased 0.52 percent, Formosa Plastics lost 0.45 percent, Nan Ya Plastics shed 0.53 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement increased 0.68 percent and China Steel sank 0.16 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened lower on Friday, although only the NASDAQ ended the session in the red.

The Dow climbed 169.37 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 33,869.27, while the NASDAQ sank 71.48 points or 061 percent to end at 11,718.12 and the S&P 500 rose 8.96 points or 0.22 percent to close at 4,090.46.

For the week, the NASSDAQ tumbled 2.4 percent, the S&P lost 1.1 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of this week's closely watched inflation data.

Traders also reacted to mixed February consumer sentiment data released by the University of Michigan. While consumer sentiment saw a continued improvement in February, the report also showed a rebound in near-term inflation expectations.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher Friday on continued optimism about higher fuel demand from China, and on Russia's move to reduce oil output next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.66 or 2.1 percent at $79.72 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9 percent in the week.