Taiwan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

Prior to Thursday’s unscheduled day off due to Typhoon Khanun, the Taiwan stock market had moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 130 points or 0.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 16,900-point plateau and it’s looking at another rough start on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft ahead of key U.S. employment data later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Wednesday with damage across the board, particularly among the technology, finance, plastic and cement companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 319.14 points or 1.85 percent to finish at 6,893.73 after trading between 16,844.57 and 17,212.55.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial tumbled 222 percent, while Mega Financial surrendered 2.46 percent, CTBC Financial fell 0.38 percent, First Financial weakened 1.20 percent, Fubon Financial dropped 2.11 percent, E Sun Financial lost 1.16 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.06 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation sank 0.74 percent, Hon Hai Precision tanked 2.26 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.37 percent, Catcher Technology lost 0.57 percent, MediaTek shed 0.56 percent, Delta Electronics plunged 3.09 percent, Novatek Microelectronics slumped 1.14 percent, Formosa Plastics slipped 0.83 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gave away 1.27 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.63 percent, Taiwan Cement was down 0.93 percent and China Steel eased 0.53 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened lower on Thursday, rallied midday but sank back into the red heading into the close.

The Dow shed 66.63 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 35,215.89, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.73 points or 0.10 percent to close at 13,858.71 and the S&P 500 fell 11.50 points or 0.25 percent to end at 4,501.89.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected continued concerns about U.S. debt after credit rating agency Fitch Ratings unexpectedly downgraded the United States’ credit rating earlier this week.

Selling pressure remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Institute for Supply Management reported a modest slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in July.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Thursday after Saudi Arabia announced that it would extend its production cut to next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $2.06 or 2.6 percent at $81.66 a barrel.