Taiwan Shares May Take Further Damage On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Thursday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 1,000 points or 3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 33,700-point plateau and it may open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over the Middle East conflict, although easing oil prices may limit the downside. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the finance, plastic and technology companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 658.90 points or 1.92 percent to finish at 33,689.68 after trading between 33,663.78 and 34,279.12.

Among the actives, Mega Financial dropped 0.89 percent, while CTBC Financial tanked 3.19 percent, First Financial retreated 1.21 percent, Fubon Financial contracted 1.45 percent, E Sun Financial tumbled 1.71 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and MediaTek both surrendered 2.89 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation cratered 3.93 percent, Hon Hai Precision stumbled 2.38 percent, Largan Precision plunged 4.92 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.27 percent, Delta Electronics shed 0.68 percent, Novatek Microelectronics slumped 2.35 percent, Formosa Plastics rallied 2.75 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dropped 2.32 percent, Asia Cement skidded 1.16 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday and stayed that way for most of the session, although a late rally pared the damage to mild by the day's end.

The Dow dropped 203.72 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 46,021.43, while the NASDAQ sank 61.73 points or 0.28 percent to close at 22,090.69 and the S&P 500 fell 18.21 points or 0.27 percent to close at 6,606.49.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid concerns about the escalation of the war in the Middle East following attacks on critical energy infrastructure across the region.

However, after soaring to nearly $120 a barrel following the latest attacks, Brent crude oil futures have pulled back sharply, contributing to the recovery attempt by stocks.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices dipped on Thursday as traders dissected U.S. inventory data showing ample supply against production and supply disruption concerns due to the Middle East war. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down $0.18 or 0.19 percent at $96.14 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide February numbers for export orders later today; in January, orders skyrocketed 60.1 percent on year.