Bargain Hunting May Boost Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) – The Taiwan stock market turned emphatically lower again on Friday, one session after ending the two-day losing streak in which it had tumbled more than 450 points or 2.9 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 16,570-point plateau although it’s likely to find renewed support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on easing inflation concerns and support from crude oil. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially from the financials, technology stocks and cement companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 363.91 points or 2.15 percent to finish at 16,570.89 after trading between 16,503.74 and 16,883.00.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dropped 1.73 percent, while CTBC Financial sank 1.75 percent, Fubon Financial lost 1.69 percent, First Financial fell 0.67 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.76 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.03 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 2.19 percent, Hon Hai Precision declined 1.90 percent, Largan Precision tanked 2.51 percent, Catcher Technology plunged 2.69 percent, MediaTek surrendered 2.21 percent, Delta Electronics retreated 1.59 percent, Formosa Plastic plummeted 3.08 percent, Asia Cement dipped 0.55 percent, Taiwan Cement stumbled 1.57 percent and Mega Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages shook off early uncertainty on Friday to finish solidly in positive territory.

The Dow spiked 482.56 points or 1.43 percent to finish at 34,326.46, while the NASDAQ jumped 118.10 points or 0.82 percent to close at 14,556.70 and the S&P 500 gained 49.50 points or 1.15 percent to end at 4,357.04.

For the week, the Dow slid 1.4 percent, the NASDAQ lost 3.2 percent and the S&P fell 2.2 percent. For the month of September, the Dow tumbled by 4.3 percent, and the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 plummeted by 5.3 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.

The higher close on Wall Street came as bargain hunting won out over concerns about inflation and the Federal Reserve scaling back asset purchases. The major averages showed wild swings in morning trading but eventually sustained a move to upside as traders picked up stocks at reduced levels following a disappointing September.

An extended pullback by treasury yields may also have generated buying interest on Wall Street, with the ten-year yield continuing to give ground after reaching a three-month closing high on Wednesday.

Crude oil prices recovered after a weak start and settled higher Friday ahead of this week’s meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November rose $0.85 or 1.1 percent at $75.88 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 2.6 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.