The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 125 points or 1 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 12,825-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian is negative on rising coronavirus cases and falling hopes for stimulus. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are predicted to follow suit.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and mixed performances from the technology and cement stocks.
For the day, the index lost 91.49 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 12,827.82 after trading between 12,786.26 and 12,909.11.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial declined 1.04 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.89 percent, CTBC Financial sank 0.83 percent, Fubon Financial retreated 1.20 percent, First Financial lost 0.73 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.40 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.31 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 2.02 percent, Hon Hai Precision rose 0.13 percent, Largan Precision was up 0.17 percent, Catcher Technology fell 0.28 percent, Formosa Plastic dropped 1.00 percent, Asia Cement added 0.25 percent, Taiwan Cement surrendered 0.49 percent and MediaTek was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened sharply lower on Friday, then cut into the losses as the session progressed but still finished in the red for the second straight day.
The Dow fell 19.80 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 28,494.20, while the NASDAQ lost 54.86 points or 0.47 percent to end at 11,713.87 and the S&P 500 eased 5.33 points or 0.15 percent to close at 3,483.34.
The initial sell-off on Wall Street came amid uncertainty about a new stimulus bill after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested on Wednesday that a new relief package is not likely to pass before next month's elections.
Early selling pressure was also generated by a Labor Department report showing an unexpected increase in first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits last week.
However, stocks rebounded well off their lows after Mnuchin told reporters that he and President Donald Trump are committed to getting a stimulus deal done.
Crude oil prices rebounded from early weakness to pare most of their losses on Thursday after data showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.08 or 0.2 percent at $40.96 a barrel.
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