The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 100 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 17,525-point plateau and it may spin its wheels again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian is cautiously optimistic, although weakness from the technology and oil stocks may limit the upside. The European and U.S. markets were mostly higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday as the financial shares and technology stocks were mostly in the red.
For the day, the index lost 76.82 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 17,526.28 after trading between 17,469.68 and 17,593.85.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.18 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.15 percent, Fubon Financial slid 0.39 percent, First Financial fell 0.43 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.84 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tanked 2.05 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.45 percent, Largan Precision skidded 1.39 percent, Catcher Technology sank 0.80 percent, MediaTek plunged 2.60 percent, Delta Electronics lost 0.70 percent, Formosa Plastic jumped 1.49 percent, Asia Cement retreated 0.65 percent, Taiwan Cement gained 0.38 percent and CTBC Financial was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the Dow and S&P opened higher on Friday and finished at record closing highs - while the NASDAQ opened in the red and the finished under water.
The Dow added 144.26 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 35,208.51, while the NASDAQ lost 59.36 points or 0.40 percent to close at 14,835.76 and the S&P 500 rose 7.42 points or 0.17 percent to end at 4,436.52.
The mixed performance on Wall Street came as better than expected jobs data added to economic optimism but also raised concerns about the outlook for monetary policy. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment spiked by 943,000 jobs in July after surging by an upwardly revised 938,000 jobs in June.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated further progress was needed in labor market recovery before the central would consider scaling back stimulus.
The price of crude oil moved lower again on Friday as concerns about the outlook for global demand amid a surge in coronavirus infections overshadowed upbeat U.S. jobs data. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for September delivery slid $0.81 or 1.2 percent to $68.28 a barrel, plunging 7.7 percent for the week.
Closer to home, Taiwan will release July figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are tipped to rise 35 percent on year, slowing from 42.3 percent in June. Exports are called higher by an annual 29.5 percent, down from 35.1 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $5.175 billion, up from $5.15 billion a month earlier.
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