No Help Yet For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, tumbling more than 530 points or 3.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 16,600-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation following uninspired data from the United States. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index sank 33.45 points or 0.20 percent to finish at the daily low of 16,601.25 after peaking at 16,766.84.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial slid 0.32 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.18 percent, First Financial plummeted 4.39 percent, E Sun Financial lost 0.58 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.91 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.44 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.36 percent, Largan Precision shed 0.47 percent, Catcher Technology plunged 2.27 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.02 percent, Delta Electronics jumped 1.56 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rose 0.38 percent, Formosa Plastics was down 0.59 percent, Nan Ya Plastics eased 0.14 percent, Taiwan Cement rallied 1.49 percent, China Steel sank 0.90 percent and CTBC Financial, Fubon Financial and Asia Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up mixed as the major averages opened lower on Friday and wound up on opposite sides of the unchanged line after a day of volatility.

The Dow gained 105.30 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 35,281.40, while the NASDAQ slumped 93.15 points or 0.68 percent to close at 13,644.85 and the S&P 500 fell 4.78 points or 0.11 percent to end at 4,464.05. For the week, the Dow added 0.6 percent, the NASDAQ tumbled 1.9 percent and the S&P eased 0.3 percent.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came following the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices climbed slightly more than expected in July.

While the larger than increase by the headline index led to renewed interest rate concerns among some investors, analysts noted the more important index excluding food, energy, and trade services rose in line with estimates.

A separate report released by the University of Michigan showed a slight pullback in consumer sentiment in August.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday after a report from the International Energy Agency forecast strong demand for oil and tightening supplies in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.37 at $83.19 a barrel.