Taiwan Stock Market May Extend Losing Streak On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, surrendering more than 220 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,500-point plateau and it may be stuck in neutral again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns over recession and the debt ceiling. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the financials and plastics, while the technology and cement companies were mixed.

For the day, the index slipped 12.24 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 15,502.36 after trading between 15,424.42 and 15,545.99.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial plunged 2.40 percent, while Mega Financial retreated 1.44 percent, CTBC Financial dropped 0.86 percent, First Financial sank 0.91 percent, Fubon Financial stumbled 0.84 percent, E Sun Financial declined 0.79 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.60 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skidded 1.02 percent, Hon Hai Precision tanked 2.38 percent, Largan Precision advanced 0.96 percent, Catcher Technology lost 0.54 percent, MediaTek improved 0.75 percent, Delta Electronics perked 0.17 percent, Novatek Microelectronics slumped 1.08 percent, Formosa Plastics surrendered 0.96 percent, Nan Ya Plastics and China Steel both fell 0.51 percent, Asia Cement added 0.23 percent and Taiwan Cement weakened 1.05 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly turned lower, spending the rest of the session in the red and finishing with mild losses.

The Dow dipped 8.88 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,300.62, while the NASDAQ sank 43.76 points or 0.35 percent to end at 12,284.74 and the S&P 500 eased 6.54 points or 0.16 percent to close at 4,124.08.

For the week, the Dow slumped 1.1 percent, the S&P fell 0.3 percent and but the NASDAQ rose 0.4 percent.

The early downturn on Wall Street followed the release of a report from the University of Michigan showing U.S. consumer sentiment deteriorated much more than anticipated in May.

Worries about the debt ceiling crisis also continued to hang over the markets, with the postponement of a meeting between President Joe Biden and top lawmakers adding to jitters about a potential default.

Crude oil prices fell Friday on the dollar's strength and worries about the outlook for energy demand. Fears of the U.S. falling into a recession and the impasse in debt ceiling talks boosted dollar's safe-haven appeal and hurt oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures fell $0.83 or 1.2 percent at $70.04 a barrel.