Lower Open Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the modest two-day losing streak in which it had fallen more than 100 points or 0.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 16,300-point plateau although it's poised to turn lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with oil stocks tipped to offer support while technology shares may fall under pressure. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index jumped 259.66 points or 1.62 percent to finish at 16,302.06 after trading between 16,136.86 and 16,431.14.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial jumped 1.69 percent, while Mega Financial improved 1.25 percent, CTBC Financial gathered 1.35 percent, Fubon Financial increased 2.56 percent, First Financial collected 0.46 percent, E Sun Financial gained 0.79 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company climbed 1.06 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation advanced 0.97 percent, Hon Hai Precision soared 3.30 percent, Largan Precision spiked 2.46 percent, Catcher Technology accelerated 2.25 percent, MediaTek rallied 2.69 percent, Formosa Plastic perked 1.34 percent, Asia Cement rose 1.00 percent and Taiwan Cement was up 0.79 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened solidly higher on Friday but faded as the day progressed, with only the Dow ending in positive territory.

The Dow advanced 123.69 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 34,207.84, while the NASDAQ sank 64.75 points or 0.48 percent to end at 13,470.99 and the S&P 500 eased 3.26 points or 0.08 percent to close at 4,155.86. For the week, the NASDAQ rose 0.3 percent, the Dow lost 0.5 percent and the S&P fell 0.4 percent.

The mixed performance came as traders remain optimistic about the economic outlook but also remain wary of signs that the Federal Reserve will soon consider tapering its asset purchases.

In economic news, the National Association of Realtors reported an unexpected decrease in existing home sales in April.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday on reports that a cyclone may disrupt production in the Gulf of Mexico. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended up $1.64 or 2.7 percent at $63.58 a barrel. WTI futures shed 2.7 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see April figures for unemployment, industrial production and retail sales later today. In March, the jobless rate was 3.72 percent, industrial production was up 16.78 percent on year and retail sales advanced an annual 12.05 percent.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.