The Taiwan stock market has experienced a decline for three consecutive sessions, losing nearly 700 points or 3.4 percent during this period. As of the close, the Taiwan Stock Exchange is positioned just above the 21,170-point mark. There is cautious optimism that this downward trend could stabilize on Monday.
Global forecasts for Asian markets are tentatively positive, driven by a more favorable outlook for interest rates. European and U.S. markets have shown mostly upward trends, suggesting Asian markets may follow suit.
On Friday, the TSE ended slightly lower, with technology stock losses partially offset by gains in the financial sector. Specifically, the index dropped 190.28 points or 0.89 percent, closing at the day's low of 21,174.22 after peaking at 21,539.03.
Key movements among active stocks included:
- Cathay Financial: +1.08%
- Mega Financial: +0.39%
- CTBC Financial: +0.28%
- First Financial: +0.73%
- Fubon Financial: +2.09%
- E Sun Financial: +3.25%
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company: -2.03%
- United Microelectronics Corporation: -1.43%
- Hon Hai Precision: -2.55%
- Largan Precision: +1.11%
- Catcher Technology: -0.66%
- MediaTek: -4.26%
- Delta Electronics: -1.52%
- Novatek Microelectronics: -1.98%
- Formosa Plastics: -0.46%
- Asia Cement: -1.07%
- Taiwan Cement: +0.46%
- China Steel: -0.42%
- Nan Ya Plastics: Unchanged
Wall Street's outlook is relatively upbeat, with major indices exhibiting mixed performance on Friday amid intra-day volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 574.82 points or 1.51 percent to 38,686.32, while the NASDAQ dipped slightly by 2.08 points or 0.01 percent to 16,735.02, and the S&P 500 added 42.03 points or 0.80 percent to 5,277.51.
For the week, the S&P 500 declined by 0.5 percent, and the Dow and NASDAQ fell by 1.0 percent and 1.1 percent respectively, despite all major indices recording robust gains for May.
The predominantly positive close on Wall Street followed the release of pivotal Commerce Department data, indicating that U.S. consumer prices increased as expected in April, with core consumer prices rising slightly less than anticipated. These inflation readings, which are closely monitored by the Federal Reserve, have fueled optimism about potential interest rate cuts in the near future.
On the commodities front, oil prices continued their downward trend for the third consecutive day on Friday, driven by concerns over demand outlook. However, hopes for extended OPEC production cuts helped to cushion the decline. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July fell by $0.92, settling at $76.99 per barrel.
