Tech Shares May Weigh On Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday ended the six-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 825 points or 4.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 18,000-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of earnings news and a FOMC rate decision and statement later this week. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished barely lower on Friday following losses from the technology stocks, gains from the financial and plastics and a mixed performance from the cement companies.

For the day, the index eased 7.57 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 17,995.03 after trading between 17,943.65 and 18,029.85.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.34 percent, while Mega Financial jumped 1.46 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.24 percent, First Financial improved 0.75 percent, E Sun Financial advanced 0.81 percent, Fubon Financial and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company both rose 0.31 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation plummeted 4.78 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.49 percent, Largan Precision tanked 2.35 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.26 percent, MediaTek sank 0.74 percent, Delta Electronics rallied 1.23 percent, Novatek Microelectronics retreated 1.52 percent, Formosa Plastics strengthened 1.39 percent, Nan Ya Plastics spiked 1.65 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.25 percent, Taiwan Cement fell 0.31 percent, China Steel gained 0.60 percent and CK Hutchison was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday, surged midday but plummeted late in the section to end mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 60.33 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 38,109.43, while the NASDAQ slumped 55.14 points or 0.36 percent to close at 15,455.36 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.19 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,890.97. For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1 percent, the NASDAQ advanced 0.9 percent and the Dow climbed 0.7 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders weighed disappointing earnings news from semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) against tamer than expected consumer price inflation data.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth in December.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Fed's monetary policy announcement this week. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues about the timing of highly anticipated rate cuts.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday amid optimism about the outlook for oil demand thanks to upbeat U.S. economic data and the Chinese central bank's fresh stimulus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March added $0.65 or 0.84 percent at $78.01 a barrel. WTI crude futures spiked 6 percent for the week.