(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long weekend holiday for the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Taiwan stock market had ended lower in five straight sessions, dropping almost 200 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,275-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The TSE finished barely lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and cement stocks, while the technology companies were mixed.
For the day, the index eased 1.91 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 17,276.79 after trading between 17,235.45 and 17,408.71.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial declined 1.34 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.62 percent, CTBC Financial surrendered 1.71 percent, Fubon Financial tanked 2.35 percent, First Financial sank 1.10 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.38 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.91 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.93 percent, Largan Precision skidded 1.42 percent, Catcher Technology surged 6.41 percent, MediaTek added 0.43 percent, Delta Electronics retreated 1.54 percent, Formosa Plastic was down 0.97 percent, Asia Cement plunged 3.23 percent, Taiwan Cement plummeted 1.93 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened firmly higher on Tuesday but quickly turned lower, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing mixed.
The Dow shed 50.63 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 33,919.84, while the NASDAQ added 32.49 points or 0.22 percent to close at 14,746 and the S&P 500 fell 3.54 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,354.19.
The choppy trade on Wall Street came ahead of the Fed's announcement. The Fed is widely expected to leave monetary policy unchanged but could address the outlook for its asset purchase program.
In economic news, the Commerce Department said new residential construction in the U.S. increased more than expected in August.
Crude oil prices moved higher Tuesday, ahead of weekly U.S. crude inventories data. But gains were just modest as traders weighed global energy demand prospects amid the surge in coronavirus cases in the U.S. and several other countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October settled at $70.56 a barrel on the expiration day, gaining $0.27 or 0.4 percent in the session.
Closer to home, Taiwan will release unemployment data for August later today; in July, the jobless rate was 4.36 percent.
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