Taiwan Bourse May See Continued Selling Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has ticked lower in back-to-back trading days, giving away more than 100 points or 1 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 9,675-point plateau and it's tipped to extend its losses on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft as there appears to be no end in sight for the U.S. government shutdown. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the financial shares and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the cement companies.

For the day, the index dipped 28.36 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 9,646.16 after trading between 9,625.31 and 9,652.19 on turnover of 38.30 billion Taiwan dollars.

Among the actives, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company gained 0.23 percent, while Largan Precision picked up 0.47 percent, Hon Hai Precision fell 0.84 percent, AU Optronics advanced 0.81percent, AsusTek Computer skidded 1.94 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation lost 0.44 percent, Chunghwa Telecom added 0.47 percent, Cathay Financial dipped 0.32 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.53 percent, CTBC Financial eased 0.25 percent, Mega Financial slid 0.39 percent, Formosa Plastic contracted 1.31 percent, Taiwan Cement was up 0.14 percent and Asia Cement perked 0.15 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks moved sharply lower on Friday ahead of a government shutdown that now seems likely to last at least through Christmas.

The Dow shed 414.23 points or 1.81 percent to 22,445.37, while the NASDAQ plummeted 195.41 points or 2.99 percent to 6,332.99 and the S&P 500 fell 50.80 points or 2.06 percent to 2,416.62. For the week, the NASDAQ nosedived 8.4 percent, the S&P lost 7.1 percent and the Dow fell 6.9 percent.

The extended sell-off on Wall Street came as traders kept an eye on developments on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers at an impasse over funding for President Donald Trump's controversial wall on the border with Mexico.

Traders largely shrugged off mixed economic data on durable goods orders, third quarter GDP, personal income and spending and consumer sentiment.

Crude oil futures ended lower on Friday, extending losses from previous session amid concerns over excess supply in the market. Crude oil futures for February ended down $0.29 or 0.6 percent at $45.59 a barrel, the lowest settlement since July 2017.