Taiwan Stock Market May Remain Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market headed south again on Friday, one session after snapping the two-day losing streak in which it had given up more than 640 points or 2.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 27,650-point plateau and it's expected to tick lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing concerns about an artificial intelligence bubble. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourse were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the plastics companies offered support.

For the day, the index dropped 248.04 points or 0.89 percent to finish at 27,651.41 after trading between 27,621.48 and 27,818.54.

Among the actives, Mega Financial fell 0.37 percent, while CTBC Financial perked 0.16 percent, First Financial sank 0.70 percent, Fubon Financial and Novatek Microelectronics both retreated 1.42 percent, E Sun Financial skidded 1.17 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.34 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 1.75 percent, Hon Hai Precision contracted 1.61 percent, Largan Precision dipped 0.23 percent, Catcher Technology tanked 2.94 percent, MediaTek stumbled 2.33 percent, Delta Electronics declined 1.33 percent, Formosa Plastics rallied 3.35 percent, Nan Ya Plastics jumped 2.16 percent, Asia Cement added 0.28 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cloudy as the major averages spent most of Friday under water before a late push salvaged a mixed close.

The Dow added 74.80 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 46,987.10, while the NASDAQ sank 49.46 points or 0.21 percent to close at 23,004.54 and the S&P 500 rose 8.48 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,728.80.

For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ plunged 3.0 percent, while the S&P 500 tumbled 1.7 percent and the Dow slumped 1.2 percent.

The recovery in afternoon trading reflected optimism about an end to the prolonged government shutdown following an offer from top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer - although Republicans turned the offer down later in the day.

Negative sentiment was also generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. has deteriorated much more than anticipated in November; consumers are now expressing worries about potential negative economic consequences of the shutdown as the stalemate exceeds one month.

Crude oil prices saw modest gains on Friday as a weakening dollar was offset by reports of oversupply and low demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.38 or 0.64 percent at $59.81 per barrel.