Lower Open Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Thursday snapped the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 310 points or 2.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 12,980-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start for Friday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday as the financial shares, cement companies and technology stocks were mostly lower.

For the day, the index dropped 113.57 points or 0.87 percent to finish at 12,986.60 after trading between 12,905.35 and 12,991.37.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial advanced 0.91 percent, while Mega Financial sank 0.85 percent, CTBC Financial retreated 1.44 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.39 percent, First Financial lost 0.81 percent, E Sun Financial slumped 0.86 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tanked 2.78 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.89 percent, Hon Hai Precision skidded 0.98 percent, Largan Precision gained 0.80 percent, Catcher Technology perked 0.29 percent, MediaTek rose 0.17 percent, Delta Electronics shed 0.56 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was up 0.29 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.53 percent, Taiwan Cement declined 1.46 percent and Formosa Plastics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 146.51 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 32,001.25, while the NASDAQ tumbled 181.86 points or 1.73 percent to close at 10,342.94 and the S&P 500 lost 39.80 points or 1.06 percent to end at 3,719.89.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders continued to digest the fourth straight 75-basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, and comments from the central bank Chair Jerome Powell that signaled more interest rate hikes in the coming months.

Investors also digested the latest batch of economic data and looked ahead to the crucial non-farm payroll data, due on Friday.

The Commerce Department said the U.S. trade gap widened to a three-month high in September, while the Labor Department said jobless claims declined last week and the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured goods rose more than expected.

Crude oil prices settled sharply lower Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand. The dollar's sharp uptick following hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve also weighed on crude oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.83 or 2 percent at $88.17 a barrel.