Taiwan Bourse May Give Up Support At 26,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking more than 220 points or 0.8 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 26,000-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the release of key inflation data from the United States. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the financial shares and technology companies were mitigated by support from the plastics stocks.

For the day, the index shed 172.88 points or 0.66 percent to finish at the daily low of 26,023.85 after peaking at 26,247.85.

Among the actives, First Financial slumped 0.84 percent, while Fubon Financial dipped 0.16 percent, E Sun Financial skidded 1.05 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.49 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation declined 1.23 percent, Hon Hai Precision soared 3.14 percent, Largan Precision added 0.64 percent, Catcher Technology dropped 0.80 percent, MediaTek climbed 1.13 percent, Delta Electronics sank 0.79 percent, Novatek Microelectronics fell 0.23 percent, Formosa Plastics rallied 2.23 percent, Nan Ya Plastics surged 5.96 percent and Asia Cement, Cathay Financial, Mega Financial and CTBC Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and stayed in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 173.96 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 45,947.32, while the NASDAQ sank 113.16 points or 0.50 percent to end at 22,384.70 and the S&P 500 lost 33.25 points or 0.50 percent to close at 6,604.72.

The continued weakness on Wall Street partly reflected ongoing concerns about the near-term outlook for the artificial intelligence trade.

Renewed uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates also weighed on the markets following the release of some upbeat U.S. economic data.

Later today, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its report on personal income and spending in August, which includes the Fed's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.

Crude oil inched higher on Thursday amid the possibility of Russian oil exports being hit by sanctions by the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.08 or 0.12 percent at $65.07 per barrel.