No Help Yet For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in six straight sessions, slumping more than 825 points or 5.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,840-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start for Friday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests further consolidation on worldwide recession fears. The European and U.S. markets finished with deep losses and the Asian bourse are also tipped to open in the red.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the technology and cement stocks, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 160.64 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 15,838.61 after trading between 15,838.29 and 16,209.25.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.19 percent, while Mega Financial eased 0.14 percent, CTBC Financial collected 1.14 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.16 percent, E Sun Financial improved 1.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dipped 0.20 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skidded 1.11 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.45 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.47 percent, Catcher Technology declined 1.20 percent, MediaTek stumbled 1.24 percent, Delta Electronics climbed 1.11 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.46 percent, Taiwan Cement was down 0.12 percent and First Financial and Formosa Plastic was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and remained deep in the red throughout the day, finishing near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 741.46 points or 2.42 percent to finish at 29,927.07, while the NASDAQ plunged 453.06 points or 4.08 percent to close at 10,646.10 and the S&P 500 dropped 123.22 points or 3.25 percent to end at 3,666.77.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected concerns aggressive monetary policy action by central banks around the world may trigger a global recession.

Following the Federal Reserve's widely expected 75 basis point interest rate hike on Wednesday, central banks in Switzerland, England and Taiwan, among others, also decided to hike rates.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits last week. Also, the Commerce Department said new residential construction in the U.S. plunged more than expected May.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday after prices rebounded as tight supply levels outweighed concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.27 or 2 percent at $117.58 a barrel.