Taiwan Bourse Poised To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, surrendering more than 210 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 16,575-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with bargain hunting expected to support the more oversold bourses. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the cement and technology stocks were offset by support from the financial and plastics companies.

For the day, the index fell 43.08 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 16,576.02 after trading between 16,505.64 and 16,609.93.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rallied 1.31 percent, while Mega Financial improved 0.70 percent, CTBC Financial jumped 1.91 percent, First Financial collected 0.38 percent, Fubon Financial advanced 0.98 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Catcher Technology both shed 0.55 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation eased 0.11 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.47 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 4.11 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.12 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 0.87 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rose 0.12 percent, Formosa Plastics climbed 0.98 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gained 0.45 percent, Asia Cement dipped 0.13 percent, Taiwan Cement sank 0.73 percent, China Steel lost 0.57 percent and E Sun Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened in the green on Friday and spent all of the day in positive territory, although they ended well off session highs.

The Dow gained 75.89 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 34,576.59, while the NASDAQ rose 12.73 points or 0.09 percent to close at 13,761.53 and the S&P 500 gained 6.35 points or 0.14 percent to end at 4,457.49. For the week, the NASDAQ tumbled 1.9 percent, the S&P 500 slumped 1.3 percent and the Dow slid 0.8 percent.

The modest strength on Wall Street partly reflected bargain hunting, as some traders pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. The uptick by the NASDAQ snapped a four-day losing streak.

Some traders may also have felt concerns about the outlook for interest rates, which contributed to the recent weakness, have been overdone.

While recent economic data has led to worries the Federal Reserve may leave rates higher for longer than previously anticipated, the central bank is still widely expected to keep rates unchanged later this month.

Crude oil prices climbed on Friday amid concerns about tightening oil supplies following Russia and Saudi Arabia's decision last week to extend their supply cut to the end of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October rose $0.64 or 0.7 percent at $87.51 a barrel.