Taiwan Bourse May Get A Boost From Tech Shares

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,000 points or 4.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 23,200-point plateau although it's likely to bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and fairly flat on Friday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the plastics and technology stocks, while the financial sector was mixed.

For the day, the index shed 74.63 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 23,193.27 after trading between 23,137.62 and 23,361.12.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial sank 0.72 percent, while Mega Financial dropped 0.87 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.33 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.54 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company slumped 0.93 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.23 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.50 percent, Largan Precision declined 0.80 percent, Catcher Technology slid 0.51 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.51 percent, Delta Electronics jumped 1.92 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rose 0.21 percent, Formosa Plastics stumbled 0.86 percent, Nan Ya Plastics skidded 1.06 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.59 percent and First Financial and Fubon Financial were unchanged.

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

The Dow slumped 123.18 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 44,642.52, while the NASDAQ rallied 159.07 points or 0.81 percent to close at 19,859.77 and the S&P 500 slipped 15.16 points or 0.25 percent to end at 6,090.27.

The Dow continued to clump amid a continued decline by shares of UnitedHealth (UNH) after that company's CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down last week.

But the NASDAQ and the S&P continued to benefit from a positive reaction to Friday's closely watched Labor Department report showing employment in the U.S. surged more than expected in November.

However, the report said the unemployment rate crept up to 4.2 percent in November from 4.1 percent in October, increasing confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by another 25 basis points later this month.

Oil prices fell on Friday, weighed down by prospects of excess supply in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January shed $1.10 or 1.61 percent at $67.20 a barrel. WTI crude futures fell nearly 1 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide November figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today; in October, imports were up 6.5 percent on year and exports rose 8.4 percent for a trade surplus of $6.87 billion.