Lower Open Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slumping almost 350 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,525-point plateau and it's looking at a soft start again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on concerns over the outlook for interest rates, while financial shares are especially likely to fall under pressure. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, particularly among the financials, technology stocks and cement and plastics companies.

For the day, the index plunged 233.50 points or 1.55 percent to finish at 15,526.20 after trading between 15,488.71 and 15,729.29.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial tanked 2.18 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.91 percent, CTBC Financial skidded 1.11 percent, Fubon Financial stumbled 1.85 percent, First Financial weakened 1.13 percent, E Sun Financial slumped 1.21 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.72 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.95 percent, Hon Hai Precision fell 0.49 percent, Largan Precision plunged 3.07 percent, Catcher Technology lost 0.54 percent, MediaTek declined 1.43 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 1.86 percent, Novatek Microelectronics sank 0.93 percent, Formosa Plastics gave up 0.88 points, Nan Ya Plastics was down 0.80 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.92 percent and Taiwan Cement dove 1.34 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests consolidation as the major averages spent the morning session relatively unchanged but plummeted in the afternoon, finishing near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 345.26 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 31,909.64, while the NASDAQ tumbled 199.51 points or 1.76 percent to close at 11,138.89 and the S&P 500 slumped 56.73 points or 1.45 percent to end at 3,861.59.

The weakness on Wall Street came as concerns about the potential fallout from the implosions of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Silvergate Capital triggered a sell-off in the financial sector.

Investors also digested the crucial non-farm payroll data for the month of February. The data showing an acceleration in U.S. job growth raised concerns the Fed will continue to remain aggressive with regard to interest rate hikes.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday on Russia's decision to trim oil output by 500,000 barrels per day in March. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $0.96 or 1.3 percent at $76.68 a barrel, rebounding after three successive days of losses.