Taiwan Shares Due For Support On Monday

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for Labor Day, the Taiwan stock market had finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 700 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 38,925-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on strength from the technology stocks and easing crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to higher and the Asian markets are likely to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the technology stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and plastics companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 376.87 points or 0.96 percent to finish at the daily low of 38,926.63 after peaking at 39,848.22.

Among the actives, Mega Financial tanked 2.49 percent, while First Financial climbed 1.05 percent, E Sun Financial tumbled 1.70 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company surrendered 2.06 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation soared 3.76 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 2.44 percent, Largan Precision cratered 3.08 percent, Catcher Technology plunged 3.46 percent, MediaTek jumped 1.36 percent, Novatek Microelectronics perked 0.12 percent, Formosa Plastics advanced 0.98 percent, Nan Ya Plastics stumbled 2.18 percent, Asia Cement dropped 0.99 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial, Fubon Financial and Delta Electronics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly positive as the major averages opened higher but bounced up and down all day, finally ending mixed.

The Dow dropped 152.83 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 49,499.27, while the NASDAQ rose 222.14 points or 0.89 percent to close at a record 25,114.44 and the S&P 500 added 21.11 points or 0.29 percent to end at 7,230.12, also a record.

For the week, the NASDAQ jumped 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 0.9 percent and the Dow increased 0.6 percent.

The early strength on Wall Street came amid a sharp increase by shares of Apple (AAPL), which saw better than expected Q2 results and forecast revenues for the current quarter above estimates.

In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management reported that manufacturing activity expanded for the fourth consecutive month in April.

Crude oil prices plunged on Friday on hopes for an end to hostilities even as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, continuing to disrupt crude oil supply. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was down $3.28 or 3.28 percent at $101.79 per barrel.