Taiwan Shares May See Further Damage Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking more than 150 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 21,650-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on renewed trade and tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 18.72 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 21,652.24 after trading between 21,559.78 and 21,798.88.

Among the actives, Mega Financial strengthened 1.63 percent, while First Financial dipped 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial shed 0.49 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 0.20 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation stumbled 2.83 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.65 percent, Largan Precision rallied 2.67 percent, Catcher Technology gained 0.47 percent, MediaTek sank 0.75 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.19 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dropped 0.77 percent, Formosa Plastics advanced 0.97 percent, Nan Ya Plastics perked 0.16 percent, Asia Cement slumped 0.92 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial and E Sun Financial were unchanged.

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

The Dow dropped 256.02 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 41,603.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 188.53 points or 1.00 percent to close at 18,737.21 and the S&P 500 sank 39.19 points or 0.67 percent to end at 5,802.82.

For the week, the S&P 500 gave up 2.6 percent, while the NASDAQ and the Dow both plunged 2.5 percent.

The initial slump on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump threatened to impose 50 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union beginning June 1, sparking renewed trade concerns.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department said new home sales in the U.S. spiked in April compared to a significantly downwardly revised level in March.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Friday but still fell for the week amid reports of another production increase by OPEC for July. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery climbed $0.34 or 0.6 percent to $61.54 a barrel. For the week, crude fell 1.5 percent.