(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday ended the four-day losing streak in which it had retreated more than 1,080 points or 7.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 13,120-point plateau although it's likely to hand back those gains on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on rising fears of recession and higher interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The TSE finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the technology and plastics companies, while the financials were mixed and the cement companies were soft.
For the day, the index surged 317.42 points or 2.48 percent to finish at 13,128.12 after trading between 13,023.71 and 13,221.87.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.53 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.18 percent, CTBC Financial improved 0.76 percent, Fubon Financial added 0.62 percent, First Financial fell 0.41 percent, E Sun Financial dropped 0.84 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spiked 4.30 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation surged 6.32 percent, Hon Hai Precision strengthened 1.45 percent, Largan Precision rallied 3.15 percent, Catcher Technology jumped 2.08 percent, MediaTek skyrocketed 7.54 percent, Delta Electronics sank 0.75 percent, Formosa Plastics climbed 1.27 percent, Nan Ya Plastics increased 0.63 percent, Asia Cement shed 0.65 percent and Taiwan Cement lost 0.77 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly nosedived into the red and finished with deep losses.
The Dow tumbled 403.87 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 29,634.83, while the NASDAQ plunged 327.81 points or 3.08 percent to close at 10,321.39 and the S&P 500 sank 86.84 points or 2.37 percent to end at 3,583.07.
For the week, the Dow rose 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ dropped 3.1 percent and the S&P lost 1.5 percent.
The sharp pullback on Wall Street extended the volatility on Thursday, when stocks recovered from an early sell-off to close sharply higher. But renewed selling pressure was generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing a rebound in inflation expectations in October.
Traders also reacted to earnings news from several big-name financial companies as JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) reported better than expected revenues, while Morgan Stanley (MS) missed estimates.
Crude oil prices plummeted on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid the rising possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $3.50 or 3.9 percent at $85.61 a barrel.
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