Taiwan Shares May Take Further Damage On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday ended the three-day winning streak in which it jumped more than 450 points or 3.1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,970-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild downside on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are likely to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and the technology stocks.

For the day, the index slipped 42.12 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 14,970.68 after trading between 14,921.06 and 15,021.73.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial shed 0.34 percent, while Mega Financial retreated 1.43 percent, CTBC Financial lost 0.44 percent, Fubon Financial sank 0.50 percent, First Financial slumped 1.34 percent, E Sun Financial tumbled 1.83 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company declined 1.20 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dipped 0.22 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.43 percent, Catcher Technology slipped 0.28 percent, MediaTek fell 0.27 percent, China Steel weakened 0.85 percent, Formosa Plastics tanked 1.76 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dropped 0.64 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement skidded 1.17 percent and Largan Precision and Delta Electronics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday but improved all session, finally ending mixed but little changed.

The Dow rose 34.87 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,429.88, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.95 points or 0.18 percent to close at 11,461.50 and the S&P 500 fell 4.87 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,071.70.

The early weakness on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which showed stronger than expected job growth in November.

While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data has added to lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

The Federal Reserve is likely to slow the pace of interest rate hikes as early as next month, but continued labor market tightness may still lead the central bank to raise rates higher than currently anticipated.

Crude oil futures slumped on Friday ahead of OPEC's meeting over the weekend and the European Unio's cap of Russian crude. West Texas Intermediate shed 1.24 per 1,5 percent to $79.98 per barrel.