Taiwan Bourse May Extend Friday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the six-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,200 points or 5.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 22,820-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement amidst a lack of catalysts. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Friday as losses from the financials and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the plastics companies.

For the day, the index dipped 36.01 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 22,822.79 after trading between 22,806.83 and 23,079.21.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial skidded 1.17 percent, while Mega Financial slumped 1.37 percent, CTBC Financial declined 1.14 percent, E Sun Financial weakened 1.22 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company stumbled 1.49 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.18 percent, Hon Hai Precision improved 0.79 percent, Catcher Technology dropped 1.05 percent, MediaTek sank 0.79 percent, Delta Electronics climbed 1.01 percent, Novatek Microelectronics plunged 2.49 percent, Formosa Plastics surged 6.79 percent, Nan Ya Plastics soared 6.67 percent, Asia Cement advanced 0.97 percent and First Financial, Fubon Financial and Largan Precision were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but wound up mixed and little changed.

The Dow climbed 137.89 points or 0.33 percent to finish at a record 42,313,00, while the NASDAQ slumped 70.70 points or 0.39 percent to close at 18,119.59 and the S&P 500 dipped 7.20 points or 0.13 percent to end at 5,738.17. For the week, the NASDAQ climbed 1.0 percent and the Dow and S&P both rose 0.6 percent.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came following the release of closely watched readings on U.S. consumer price inflation in August.

The Commerce Department said its personal consumption expenditures price index inched up by 0.1 percent in August after rising 0.2 percent in July. The uptick matched expectations.

Oil futures closed higher on Friday as additional stimulus measures from the Chinese government eased concerns about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.51 or at $68.18 a barrel.