Taiwan Bourse May Finally Snap Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in seven straight sessions, slumping more than 1,025 points or 6.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,640-point plateau although it may finally stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with support expected from the technology stocks and weakness from oil companies amid recession fears. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit on Monday.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and the technology stocks.

For the day, the index tumbled 197.35 points or 1.25 percent to finish at 15,641.26 after trading between 15,573.38 and 15,794.16.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial stumbled 1.30 percent, while Mega Financial surrendered 2.35 percent, CTBC Financial tumbled 2.26 percent, Fubon Financial weakened 1.78 percent, First Financial slumped 2.08 percent, E Sun Financial skidded 1.36 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.38 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 2.95 percent, Hon Hai Precision declined 1.79 percent, Largan Precision dipped 0.30 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.30 percent, MediaTek plunged 4.81 percent, Delta Electronics eased 0.22 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slipped 0.24 percent, Asia Cement advanced 0.81 percent, Taiwan Cement dropped 1.00 percent and Formosa Plastics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened higher on Friday, although the Dow was unable to hold its gains.

The Dow shed 38.29 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 29,888.78, while the NASDAQ surged 152.25 points or 1.43 percent to end at 10,798.35 and the S&P 500 rose 8.07 points or 0.22 percent to close at 3,674.84. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 3.8 percent and the S&P tumbled 5.8 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came amid a quadruple witching day, which refers to the expiration of stock index futures, single-stock futures, stock options and stock index options.

Traders may also have been expressing some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following Thursday's sell-off, which reflected concerns about the economic impact of aggressive monetary policy tightening.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve said industrial production increased less than expected in May, while the Conference Board showed a continued decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators last month.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday on mounting fears about a possible global economic recession following severe tightening of policies by several central banks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $8.03 or 6.8 percent at $109.56 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide May numbers for export orders later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.3 percent on year after slipping 5.5 percent in April.