Taiwan Stock Market May Find Traction On Thursday

The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, dropping almost 120 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,350-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, riding a spike in crude oil prices and some bargain hunting. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday as the financial shares, cement stocks and technology companies were mostly in the red.

For the day, the index sank 80.90 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 17,354.00 after trading between 17,316.52 and 17,439.75.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial lost 0.50 percent, while Mega Financial slid 0.46 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.74 percent, First Financial dipped 0.22 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.98 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.61 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.93 percent, Largan Precision fell 0.40 percent, Catcher Technology tanked 2.21 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.27 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 2.09 percent, Asia Cement was down 0.32 percent, Taiwan Cement sank 0.39 percent and CTBC Financial and Formosa Plastic were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but quickly turned higher, continuing to pick up steam heading into the close.

The Dow spiked 236.82 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 34,814.39, while the NASDAQ jumped 123.77 points or 0.82 percent to end at 15,161.53 and the S&P 500 gained 37.65 points or 0.85 percent to close at 4,480.70.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street may partly have reflected bargain hunting following the downward trend seen over the past several sessions.

Traders were also digesting the latest batch of data, including a report from the Fed showing industrial production in the U.S. increased less than expected in August. Also, the Labor Department said U.S. import prices fell last month for the first time since October 2020.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Wednesday, lifting the most active crude futures contracts to a nearly seven-week closing high after data showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended up by $2.15 or 3.1 percent at $72.61 a barrel, the highest settlement since July 30.

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