Bargain Hunting May Lift Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, tumbling more than 500 points or 3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 16,630-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on better-than-expected inflation data from the United States. The European and U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the technology stocks and cement companies, while the financial sector was mixed.

For the day, the index plummeted 236.24 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 16,634.70 after trading between 16,601.17 and 16,827.11.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.32 percent, while Mega Financial declined 1.58 percent, CTBC Financial added 0.40 percent, First Financial gained 0.34 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.15 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.54 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.99 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.45 percent, Largan Precision fell 0.47 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.28 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.14 percent, Delta Electronics retreated 1.68 percent, Novatek Microelectronics sank 0.88 percent, Formosa Plastics rose 0.24 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was down 0.57 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.50 percent, Taiwan Cement slumped 0.81 percent and China Steel declined 0.89 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened sharply higher on Thursday but faded as the day progressed, ending just barely in the green.

The Dow added 52.79 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 35,176.15, while the NASDAQ gained 15.97 points or 0.12 percent to close at 13,737.99 and the S&P 500 perked 1.12 points or 0.03 percent to end at 4,468.83.

The early rally on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing the annual rate of consumer price inflation accelerated less than expected in July.

While the data reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next month, economists suggested sticky core inflation could leave the door open for the Fed to resume raising rates in November.

Oil prices fell from multi-month highs Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China after imports plummeted. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.58 at $$82.82 a barrel.