Soft Start Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Thursday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had spiked more than 700 points or 3.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 19,850-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is sift on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down 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 and plastics.

For the day, the index stumbled 274.32 points or 1.36 percent to finish at 19,857.42 after trading between 19,848.57 and 20,003.00.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial stumbled 1.42 percent, while Mega Financial dropped 0.89 percent, CTBC Financial declined 1.43 percent, First Financial skidded 1.10 percent, Fubon Financial lost 0.60 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.37 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tumbled 2.17 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.39 percent, Hon Hai Precision and MediaTek both tanked 2.88 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 0.93 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.66 percent, Novatek Microelectronics shed 0.67 percent, Formosa Plastics slumped 1.31 percent, Nan Ya Plastics sank 1.06 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement fell 0.47 percent, China Steel was down 0.81 percent and Largan Precision was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and remained solidly in the red throughout the session.

The Dow plunged 375.12 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 38,085.80, while the NASDAQ tumbled 100.99 points or 0.64 percent to close at 15,611.76 and the S&P 500 sank 23.21 points or 0.46 percent to end at 5,048.42.

A negative reaction to earnings news from Meta Platforms (META) and tech giant IBM Corp. (IBM) contributed to the early sell-off on Wall Street.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. economy grew by much less than expected in the first quarter of 2024. Also, the Commerce Department said the personal consumption expenditures price index climbed more than expected.

Both of those economic results were bad news for investors as they damaged the likelihood of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in the near future.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Thursday, recovering from recent losses, despite data showing slower than expected U.S. first-quarter GDP growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.76 or about 0.92% at $83.57 a barrel.