Taiwan Bourse Expected To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival, the Taiwan stock market had turned lower again on Thursday, one day after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had given up more than 460 points or 2.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 21,350-point plateau and it may head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuous tariff concerns, while oil stocks are likely to be weak after OPEC+ announced another production hike over the weekend. The European and U.S. bourses were mostly down and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The TSE finished barely lower on Thursday following losses from the plastics companies and mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 10.40 points or 0.05 percent to finish at the daily low of 21,347.30 after peaking at 21,605.26.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.16 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.12 percent, First Financial collected 0.56 percent, E Sun Financial retreated 1.49 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.64 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.63 percent, Largan Precision jumped 1.98 percent, Catcher Technology strengthened 1.20 percent, MediaTek declined 1.56 percent, Delta Electronics climbed 1.08 percent, Novatek Microelectronics fell 0.19 percent, Formosa Plastics surrendered 2.66 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plummeted 3.21 percent, Asia Cement slumped 1.18 percent and CTBC Financial, Fubon Financial and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages shook off a sluggish start on Friday, posting a mild recovery midday to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 54.34 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 42,270.07, while the NASDAQ slipped 62.11 points or 0.32 percent to close at 19,113.77 and the S&P 500 eased 0.48 points or 0.01 percent to end at 5,911.69.

The early selling pressure on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump accused China of violating the trade agreement reached last month.

But bargain hunters fueled the mild recovery later in the day.

In U.S. economic news, a closely watched report release by the Commerce Department showed consumer prices in the U.S. crept slightly higher in April.

Crude suffered a weekly loss of more than 1 percent due to uncertainty over Trump's tariffs and their likely impact on global growth and fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery eased $0.18 or 0.30 percent to $60.76 a barrel.