Soft Start Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 715 points or 4.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,825-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for continued consolidation, with energy, steel and financial stocks likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow suit.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index plummeted 414.40 points or 2.72 percent to finish at the daily low of 14,825.73 after peaking at 15,147.77.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial cratered 3.60 percent, while Mega Financial sank 1.12 percent, CTBC Financial stumbled 2.71 percent, Fubon Financial weakened 1.64 percent, First Financial shed 0.57 percent, E Sun Financial slumped 1.36 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tumbled 3.05 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation plunged 4.28 percent, Hon Hai Precision declined 1.80 percent, Largan Precision climbed 1.47 percent, Catcher Technology dropped 1.19 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.51 percent, Delta Electronics surrendered 2.64 percent, Novatek Microelectronics plummeted 2.58 percent, Formosa Plastics lost 0.91 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was down 1.89 percent, Asia Cement rose 0.23 percent and Taiwan Cement eased 0.13 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday, made back some ground as the day progressed but still ended well in the red.

The Dow dropped 253.88 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 30,775.43, while the NASDAQ tumbled 149.16 points or 1.33 percent to end at 11,028.74 and the S&P 500 sank 33.45 points or 0.88 percent to close at 3,785.38.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about the global economic outlook and the possibility of a recession. Central bank chiefs have reaffirmed their resolve to pare inflation despite threats to economic growth.

A Commerce Department report provided further evidence of an economic slowdown, showing that personal spending increased less than expected in May.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower Thursday, extending the pullback seen in the previous session on lingering concerns about the outlook for demand amid the possibility of a recession. West Texas Intermediate for August delivery plunged $4.02 or 3.7 percent to $105.76 a barrel.