Taiwan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival, the Taiwan stock market had finished higher in five straight sessions, jumping more than 3,350 points or 7.3 percent in that span on its way to a fresh record closing high. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 46,460-point plateau although the rally may stall on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is week after Iran closed down the Strait of Hormuz again over the weekend. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were off and the Asian markets also figure to open in the red.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index jumped 587.81 points or 1.28 percent to finish at 46,465.20 after trading between 45,972.26 and 46,565.70.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial expanded 1.76 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.89 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.27 percent, First Financial rose 0.31 percent, Fubon Financial jumped 1.85 percent, E Sun Financial lost 0.28 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company gained 1.05 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 3.93 percent, Hon Hai Precision slumped 1.29 percent, Largan Precision advanced 0.97 percent, Catcher Technology declined 1.46 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.57 percent, Delta Electronics fell 0.23 percent, Novatek Microelectronics perked 0.19 percent, Formosa Plastics surged 7.82 percent, Nan Ya Plastics skyrocketed 9.88 percent and Asia Cement improved 0.70 percent.

The markets on Wall Street were closed on Friday for the Juneteenth holiday, but the European bourses ended mostly under water.

The UK's FTSE 100 ended down 0.35 percent, while Germany's DAX drifted down 0.16 percent and France's CAC 40 lost 0.55percent and Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.06 percent.

The weakness that emerged was due to uncertainty about U.S. and Iran securing a lasting peace truce in the Middle East following the abrupt cancellation of talks between the two nations in Switzerland.

The cancellation happened following exchange of fresh attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, and Iran then accused the U.S. of breaking the agreement - since one of the main conditions was for Israel to also cease hostilities.

Crude oil prices tumbled last week on reports that the Strait of Hormuz was re-opened, falling more than 10 percent from the previous week's close to below $80. But Iran closed the strait again over the weekend, likely prompting a rebound in crude prices this week.