(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had accelerated more than 600 points or 3.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,260-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak thanks to rising crude oil prices and tumbling technology stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, gains from the plastics and mixed performances from the technology and cement companies.
For the day, the index dropped 168.46 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 17,264.74 after trading between 17,239.90 and 17,373.90.
Among the actives, Mega Financial sank 0.78 percent, while CTBC Financial retreated 1.12 percent, Fubon Financial declined 1.49 percent, First Financial lost 0.58 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.17 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tanked 2.04 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.57 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.49 percent, Largan Precision skidded 1.00 percent, MediaTek plunged 3.22 percent, Delta Electronics spiked 2.95 percent, Formosa Plastic jumped 1.43 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was up 0.22 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.54 percent, Taiwan Cement slumped 0.32 percent and Catcher Technology and Cathay Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday but were unable to hold on to their gains and finished firmly in the red.
The Dow skidded 229.91 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 32,944.19, while the NASDAQ tumbled 286.19 points or 2.18 percent to end at 12,843.81 and the S&P 500 sank 55.21 points or 1.30 percent to close at 4.204.31. For the week, the Dow shed 2 percent, the NASDAQ lost 3.5 percent and the S&P fell 2.9 percent.
Rising worries about the economic impact of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine war and the various sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and the Western allies rendered the mood bearish.
In economic news, the University of Michigan noted a bigger than expected drop in U.S. consumer sentiment in March. The report also showed that one-year inflation expectations jumped to 5.4 percent in March from 4.9 percent in February, while five-year inflation expectations held at 3.0 percent.
Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on concerns about disruptions in supply amid uncertainty about any meaningful progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $3.31 or 3.1 percent at $109.33 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 5.5 percent in the week.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
