(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, sinking almost 300 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 22,550-point plateau although it's likely to open to the upside on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid earnings news and support from crude oil. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to continue that trend.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.
For the day, the index stumbled 132.70 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 22,555.66 after trading between 22,490.28 and 22,708.57.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial skidded 1.19 percent, while Mega Financial retreated 1.25 percent, Fubon Financial stumbled 1.33 percent, E Sun Financial collected 1.11 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company declined 1.46 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation weakened 1.11 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 1.70 percent, Largan Precision climbed 1.07 percent, Catcher Technology surrendered 1.72 percent, MediaTek sank 0.78 percent, Delta Electronics slumped 1.42 percent, Novatek Microelectronics added 0.52 percent, Formosa Plastics tanked 2.65 percent, Nan Ya Plastics tumbled 1.71 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.11 percent and CTBC Financial and First Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened slightly lower on Thursday but gradually moved higher and finished in the green.
The Dow rallied 461.88 points or 1.06 percent to finish at 43,870.35, while the NASDAQ rose 6.28 points or 0.03 percent to close at 18,972.42 and the S&P 500 advanced 31.60 points or 0.53 percent to end at 5,948.71.
The sharp increase by the Dow came amid strong gains by IBM Corp. (IBM), Sherwin-Williams (SHW) and Salesforce (CRM).
The NASDAQ showed a lack of direction as traders tracked the performance of AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected third quarter earnings and revenues - but some traders expressed concerns about slowing revenue growth.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in over six months last week. Also, the Conference Board' leading economic index fell more than expected in October
Oil prices climbed higher Thursday as escalating geopolitical tensions due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine outweighed recent data showing robust supply in the market. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $1.35 or 1.96 percent at $70.10 a barrel.
Closer to home, Taiwan will see October unemployment data later today; in September, the jobless rate was 3.38 percent.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
