Mild Upside Seen For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 170 points or 1.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,800-point plateau although it may tick higher on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with bargain hunting likely to offset concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks, cement companies and plastics.

For the day, the index tumbled 293.58 points or 1.94 percent to finish at 14,801.86 after trading between 14,773.19 and 14,981.00.

Among the actives, Mega Financial surrendered 2.09 percent, while CTBC Financial stumbled 1.91 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.52 percent, First Financial sank 0.94 percent, E Sun Financial weakened 1.95 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 2.87 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation slumped 1.58 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 1.38 percent, Largan Precision shed 1.02 percent, Catcher Technology lost 1.08 percent, MediaTek tumbled 2.85 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.71 percent, Formosa Plastics was down 1.21 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gave away 1.31 percent, Asia Cement plunged 2.08 percent, Taiwan Cement slid 1.02 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened lower on Thursday but a late-day rally pushed the Down and S&P 500 into the green at the close.

The Dow added 145.99 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 31,656.42, while the NASDAQ slipped 31.08 points or 0.26 percent to end at 11,785.13 and the S&P 500 rose 11.85 points or 0.30 percent to close at 3,966.85.

Bargain hunting contributed to the rebound on Wall Street, with traders picking up stocks at reduced levels after the major averages once again fell to their lowest levels in over a month.

The early selloff on Wall Street also came as the latest labor and manufacturing data was seen as confirming the Federal Reserve's stance that it can remain aggressive with the tightening of policy.

With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming later today, the Labor Department this morning unexpectedly reported a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil futures ended sharply lower Thursday on rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand and worries that aggressive rate hikes by major central banks may lead to a global economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $2.94 or 3.3 percent at $86.61 a barrel.