Taiwan Shares Seen Lower On Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, advancing more than 760 points or 3.4 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 23,480-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on inflation and tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial hares and technology stocks, while the plastics companies were soft.

For the day, the index gained 161.67 points or 0.69 percent to finish at the daily high of 23,478.27 after moving as low as 23,254.17.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.17 percent, while Mega Financial slipped 0.38 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.16 percent, First Financial skidded 1.07 percent, Fubon Financial added 0.33 percent, E Sun Financial sank 0.35 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 0.90 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation perked 0.12 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.89 percent, Largan Precision fell 0.53 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.25 percent, Delta Electronics lost 0.48 percent, Novatek Microelectronics shed 0.55 percent, Formosa Plastics plunged 2.90 percent, Nan Ya Plastics tanked 2.60 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.12 percent and MediaTek was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly slipped under water and finished the session with sizeable losses.

The Dow stumbled 444.20 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 44,303.40, while the NASDAQ slumped 268.60 points or 1.36 percent to close at 19,523.40 and the S&P 500 sank 57.58 points or 0.95 percent to end at 6,025.99. For the week, the S&P 500 dipped 0.2 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ both fell 0.5 percent.

The weakness that emerged early in the session came after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated in February amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations.

Stocks saw further downside after President Donald Trump said he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries this week, with the U.S. imposing tariffs on imports equal to the rates imposed on American exports.

Traders were also reacting to mixed U.S. jobs data, with a closely watched Labor Department report showing weaker than expected job growth in January but an unexpected decrease in the unemployment rate.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday after the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran's crude exports, although a stronger dollar limited oil's gains. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $0.39 or 0.5 percent at $71.00 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 2 percent in the week.