Losses May Accelerate For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had given up more than 640 points or 2.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 27,900-point plateau and it's expected to open to the downside on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on continued uncertainty regarding the end of the U.S. government shutdown. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The YSE finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the financials, gains from the plastics and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index slipped 43.53 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 27,903.56 after trading between 27,811.81 and 28,038.24.

Among the actives, Mega Financial shed 0.50 percent, while First Financial fell 0.35 percent, Fubon Financial rallied 2.51 percent, E Sun Financial dipped 0.33 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.02 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation slumped 1.22 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.40 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 0.99 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 0.93 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rose 0.38 percent, Formosa Plastics soared 3.14 percent, Nan Ya Plastics skyrocketed 8.03 percent, Asia Cement improved 0.95 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial, Largan Precision and MediaTek were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is rough as the major averages opened slightly lower on Thursday but accelerated deeper into the red as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plunged 779.86 points or 1.62 percent to finish at 47,474.96, while the NASDAQ tanked 536.10 points or 2.29 percent to end at 22,870.36 and the S&P 500 sank 114.20 points or 1.67 percent to close at 6,736.72.

The Dow pulled back well off the record closing high set on Wednesday amid a steep drop by shares of Disney (DIS), which came under pressure after the company reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates but weaker than expected revenues.

Valuation concerns also continued to weigh on tech stocks, with AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) moving sharply lower along with tech heavyweights like Broadcom (AVGO) and Alphabet (GOOGL).

The weakness on Wall Street may also have reflected uncertainty whether key U.S. economic will be released following the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Crude oil edged higher on Thursday as the end of the U.S. government shutdown has renewed confidence in consumption and energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.22 or 0.38 percent at $58.71 per barrel.