Big Rebound Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market returned sharply lower on Friday from its unplanned two-day break due to Typhoon Gaemi - just after it had snapped the four-day slide in which it had plummeted more than 1,700 points or 7.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 22,120-point plateau although it's due for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were solidly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially among the technology companies.

For the day, the index plummeted 752.59 points or 3.29 percent to finish at 22,119.21 after trading between 21,889.61 and 22,206.93.

Among the actives, Mega Financial was down 0.12 percent, while CTBC Financial and Fubon Financial both shed 0.70 percent, E Sun Financial plummeted 5.59 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plunged 5.62 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation sank 1.17 percent, Hon Hai Precision surrendered 4.71 percent, Largan Precision retreated 2.64 percent, Catcher Technology eased 0.24 percent, MediaTek stumbled 2.35 percent, Delta Electronics dipped 0.39 percent, Novatek Microelectronics added 0.55 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 1.19 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.36 percent and Cathay Financial, First Financial and Formosa Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow surged 654.27 points or 1.64 percent to finish at 40,589.34, while the NASDAQ rallied 176.16 points or 1.03 percent and the S&P 500 gained 59.88 points or 1.11 percent.

For the week, the Dow added 0.8 percent, the NASDAQ slumped 2.1 percent and the S&P fell 0.8 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came as the release of closely watched inflation data by the Commerce Department added to confidence about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September.

The University of Michigan also released revised data showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated less than previously estimated in July.

Oil prices fell on Friday amid concerns about the outlook for demand due to the economic slowdown in China, while hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.12 or 1.4 percent at $77.16 a barrel. WTI crude futures lost 1.9 percent in the week.