Taiwan Stock Market Expected To Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slumping almost 700 points or 3.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 22,260-point plateau although it's due for support on Monday.

The global forecast for Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting expected after some heavy selling last week. The European and U.S. markets were up on Friday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the plastics and technology sectors, while the financial shares came in mixed.

For the day, the index slipped 36.40 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 22,262.50 after trading between 22,055.38 and 22,429.86.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.17 percent, while Mega Financial slid 0.25 percent, CTBC Financial perked 0.16 percent, First Financial declined 0.91 percent, E Sun Financial skidded 1.10 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company slumped 0.90 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.80 percent, Largan Precision lost 0.41 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.26 percent, Delta Electronics sank 0.78 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rose 0.21 percent, Formosa Plastics plunged 3.16 percent, Nan Ya Plastics retreated 1.40 percent, Asia Cement shed 0.59 percent and MediaTek, Hon Hai Precision and Fubon Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages returned from Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday by opening in the green on Friday and continuing to pick up steam as the shortened session progressed, ending near the day's highs.

The Dow jumped 188.59 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 44,910.65, while the NASDAQ rallied 157.69 points or 0.83 percent to close at 19,218.17 and the S&P 500 gained 33.64 points or 0.56 percent to end at 6,032.38.

For the holiday-interrupted week, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 both jumped 1.1 percent, while the narrower Dow surged 1.4 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following pullback seen on Wednesday.

Semiconductor stocks led the rebound, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing by 1.5 percent after hitting its lowest intraday level in over two months in the previous session.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Friday after OPEC postponed its meeting to Dec. 5, despite expectations the group will delay production increases. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January shed $0.72 or 1.1 percent at $68.00 a barrel. WTI crude futures lost 4.5 percent in the week.