Taiwan Stock Market Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 250 points or 1.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,030-point plateau and it's likely to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation, with weakness expected from the technology and oil sectors. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Friday with gains across the board, especially among the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index soared 333.94 points or 2.27 percent to finish at 15,036.04 after trading between 14,802.34 and 15,041.41.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial strengthened 2.01 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.56 percent, CTBC Financial spiked 3.37 percent, Fubon Financial improved 1.79 percent, First Financial rose 0.39 percent, E Sun Financial advanced 0.92 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company soared 3.20 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation surged 5.38 percent, Largan Precision jumped 2.94 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.59 percent, MediaTek rallied 4.82 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.57 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 0.11 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gathered 0.45 percent, Asia Cement increased 0.61 percent, Taiwan Cement was up 0.26 percent and Hon Hai Precision was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to lower as the major averages opened deep in the red on Friday and recovered somewhat, although only the Dow peeked up into positive territory.

The Dow added 76.67 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 32,803.47, while the NASDAQ sank 63.04 points or 0.50 percent to end at 12,657.55 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.75 points or 0.16 percent to close at 4,145.19.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.2 percent, the S&P rose 0.4 percent and the Dow eased 0.1 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came as traders reacted to the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report - which showed employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in July, leading to concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

While the data paints a positive picture of the labor market, the report may also give the Federal Reserve confidence they can continue aggressively raising interest rates without causing a recession.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, lifted by the strong jobs report, but still posted a weekly loss amid concerns about demand due to economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.47 or 0.5 percent at $89.01 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide July figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to climb 15.85 percent, slowing from 19.2 percent in June. Exports are called higher by an annual 11.65 percent, down from 15.2 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $4.49 billion following the $4.64 billion shortfall a month earlier.