The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sliding more than 240 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 12,660-point plateau although it may find some traction on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian suggests mild upside, with earnings optimism tempered by worsening coronavirus. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The TSE finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and cement stocks, while the technology companies were mixed.
For the day, the index dropped 130.84 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 12,662.91 after trading between 12,583.37 and 12,699.82.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial declined 1.17 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.54 percent, CTBC Financial retreated 1.10 percent, Fubon Financial sank 1.45 percent, First Financial slid 0.74 percent, E Sun Financial surrendered 1.42 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.58 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation advanced 0.92 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.38 percent, Largan Precision tanked 2.10 percent, Catcher Technology jumped 1.66 percent, MediaTek added 0.44 percent, Formosa Plastic lost 0.75 percent, Asia Cement plunged 2.15 percent and Taiwan Cement was down 0.49 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as bargain hunters fueled a significant rebound on Thursday, recovering for the major selloff a day earlier.
The Dow gained 139.16 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 26,659.11, while the NASDAQ soared 180.72 points or 1.64 percent to end at 11,185.59 and the S&P 500 jumped 39.08 points or 1.19 percent to close at 3,310.11.
The jump by the tech-heavy NASDAQ was led by Facebook (FB), with the social media spiking by 4.9 percent ahead of the release of its third quarter results. Tech giants Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) also moved sharply higher ahead of their quarterly results.
The strength on Wall Street also followed a Commerce Department report showing a stronger than expected rebound by the U.S. economy in the third quarter. Adding to the positive sentiment, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level since before the coronavirus-induced lockdowns last week.
Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday on concerns for the outlook of energy demand due to a renewed surge in coronavirus cases and tighter lockdown measures in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $1.22 or 3.3 percent at $36.17 a barrel, the lowest settlement in nearly five months.
Closer to home, Taiwan will see advance Q3 numbers for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 1.5 percent on year. That follows the 0.58 percent decline in the three months prior.
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