Soft Start Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 100 points or 0.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchanged now rests above the 22,200-point plateau and it may remain stuck in neutral again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key inflation data later in the day. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financials and plastics and a mixed picture from the technology companies.

For the day, the index dropped 168.81 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 22,201.85 after trading between 22,010.89 and 22,273.62.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial lost 0.63 percent, while Mega Financial dropped 1.02 percent, CTBC Financial retreated 1.51 percent, First Financial and Nan Ya Plastics both fell 0.55 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 0.76 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.36 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company surrendered 2.18 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skidded 1.09 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.54 percent, Largan Precision surged 6.14 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.42 percent, MediaTek soared 4.17 percent, Delta Electronics sank 0.75 percent, Novatek Microelectronics jumped 1.85 percent, Formosa Plastics was down 0.39 percent and Asia Cement was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and spent much of the day solidly in the green - before a late slump saw them end mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 243.63 points or 0.59 percent to finish at a record 41,335.05, while the NASDAQ sank 39.60 points or 0.23 percent to close at 17,516.43 and the S&P 500 eased 0.22 points or 0.00 percent to end at 5,591.96.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to the latest U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing the U.S. economy unexpectedly grew more than previously estimated in the second quarter.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly lower last week.

Buying interest waned in the latter part of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of closely watched readings on consumer price inflation later today.

The downturn by the tech-heavy NASDAQ also came as shares of Nvidia (NVDA) slumped even though the company reported Q2 results that exceeded expectations and forecast fiscal third quarter revenues above estimates.

Oil prices settled sharply higher on Thursday on supply concerns amid reports Libya has shut off production and halted exports at several ports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October climbed $1.39 or 1.87 percent at $75.91 a barrel.