Little Movement Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 100 points or 0.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 20,150-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were slightly higher 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 Thursday following losses from the financial shares and plastic stocks, while the technology companies were mixed.

For the day, the index sank 53.57 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 20m146.55 after trading between 20,065.93 and 20,222.20.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial perked 0.10 percent, while Mega Financial sank 0.62 percent, CTBC Financial declined 0.61 percent, First Financial dropped 0.36 percent, Fubon Financial stumbled 0.72 percent, E Sun Financial was down 0.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company slumped 1.28 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation advanced 0.97 percent, Hon Hai Precision surged 4.71 percent, Largan Precision dipped 0.21 percent, Catcher Technology jumped 1.87 percent, MediaTek slid 0.43 percent, Delta Electronics rose 0.29 percent, Novatek Microelectronics fell 0.34 percent, Formosa Plastics lost 0.58 percent, Nan Ya Plastics retreated1.61 percent, Asia Cement rallied 2.20 percent, Taiwan Cement eased 0.10 percent and China Steel shed 0.42 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher but then spent most of the day hugging both side of the line before finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 47.29 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 39,807.37, while the NASDAQ dipped 20.06 points or 0.12 percent to close at 16,379.46 and the S&P 500 rose 5.86 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,254.35. For the holiday-shortened week, the Dow added 0.8 percent, the S&P rose 0.4 percent and the NASDAQ fell 0.3 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of a Commerce Department report on personal income and spending later today Friday that includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.

While the inflation data could impact the outlook for interest rates, traders will have to wait until next Monday to react to the report due to the markets being closed for Good Friday.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly lower last week. The Commerce Department showed the U.S. economy grew more than estimated in the fourth quarter of 2023. And the National Association of Realtors noted a rebound by pending home sales in February.

Oil futures rallied on Thursday, lifted by a likely drop in supply levels due to OPEC production cuts and continued attacks by Ukraine on Russian oil facilities. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May spiked $1.82 or 2.2 percent at $83.17 a barrel. WTI futures gained 3.15 percent for the week.