Taiwan Bourse Expected To Remain Rangebound

(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 slide in which it had fallen almost 360 points or 1.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 22,930-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains murky on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat, and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index skidded 236.42 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 22,932.25 after trading between 22,743.30 and 22,947.56.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial and United Microelectronics Corporation both stumbled 1.60 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.51 percent, CTBC Financial sank 0.76 percent, First Financial lost 0.55 percent, Fubon Financial skidded 1.09 percent, E Sun Financial retreated 1.28 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company declined 1.38 percent, Hon Hai Precision tumbled 1.90 percent, Largan Precision slumped 1.16 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.28 percent, Delta Electronics tanked 2.12 percent, Novatek Microelectronics weakened 1.42 percent, Formosa Plastics added 0.26 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dropped 1.35 percent, Asia Cement surrendered 1.66 percent and MediaTek was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher Thursday on bargain hunting but faded as the day progressed, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 15.37 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 42,342.24, while the NASDAQ dipped 19.93 points or 0.10 percent to close at 19,372.77 and the S&P 500 eased 5.08 points or 0.09 percent to end at 5,867.08.

The initial strength on Wall Street came as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels after Wednesday's steep losses, which saw the Dow tumble to its lowest closing level in over a month.

Wednesday's sell-off came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to lower interest rates by a quarter-point but forecast rate cuts fewer than expected next year.

Upbeat economic data supported for the Fed's cautious approach to further rate cuts after the Commerce Department said GDP surged more than expected in Q3. Also, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits pulled back more than expected last week.

Crude oil futures were down on Thursday, weighed down by a stronger dollar after the Federal Reserve signaled fewer interest rate cuts next year than had been expected. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January closed down $0.67 or 0.95 percent at $69.91 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide November figures for export orders later today; in October, orders were up 4.9 percent on year.