Taiwan Bourse Tipped To Open To The Downside

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Thursday snapped the three-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 2,600 points or 8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 33,670-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing concerns over surging energy prices. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index rallied 844.06 points or 2.57 percent to finish at 33,672.94 after trading between 33,472.91 and 34,319.68.

Among the actives, Mega Financial climbed 1.03 percent, while First Financial collected 1.57 percent, Fubon Financial improved 0.78 percent, E Sun Financial expanded 1.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 1.88 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation soared 3.50 percent, Hon Hai Precision vaulted 3.23 percent, Largan Precision accelerated 2.39 percent, MediaTek rallied 3.20 percent, Delta Electronics surged 6.37 percent, Novatek Microelectronics advanced 0.94 percent, Formosa Plastics increased 0.96 percent, Nan Ya Plastics strengthened 3.91 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.44 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial and Catcher Technology were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and spent all day in the red, although ending off session lows.

The Dow tumbled 784.67 points or 1.61 percent to finish at 47,954.74, while the NASDAQ sank 58.50 points or 0.26 percent to close at 22,748.99 and the S&P 500 lost 38.79 points or 0.56 percent to end at 6,830.71.

Concerns about the impact of sharply higher energy prices weighed on Wall Street, as the price of crude oil resumed the surge seen early in the week.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed again on Thursday, resuming the surge seen earlier in the week in reaction to the conflict in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery spiked $6.51 or 8.7 percent to $81.17 a barrel and has soared $14.15 or 21.1 percent so far this week.

Iran has claimed it struck a U.S. oil tanker in the northern Persian Gulf, raising fears of a wider conflict after the Islamic republic threatened to halt shipping through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also signaled a possible longer time frame for the conflict than has previously been floated by the Trump administration, saying the war could last up to eight weeks but might be over sooner.