(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, slumping almost 280 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 24,230-point plateau and it may see continued consolidation on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.
The TSE finished barely lower on Friday following mixed performances from the finance, technology and plastics companies.
For the day, the index dipped 3.30 points or 0.01 percent to finish at the daily low of 24,233.10 after peaking at 24,570.15.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial retreated 1.28 percent, while Mega Financial sank 0.74 percent, First Financial perked 0.18 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.45 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dipped 0.25 percent, Hon Hai Precision declined 1.21 percent, Largan Precision added 0.42 percent, Catcher Technology dropped 0.79 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.08 percent, Delta Electronics rose 0.28 percent, Formosa Plastics shed 0.38 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gained 0.47 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.13 percent and CTBC Financial, Fubon Financial, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Novatek Microelectronics were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened under water and stayed that way throughout the trading day.
The Dow dropped 92.02 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 45,544.88, while the NASDAQ tumbled 249.65 points or 1.15 percent to end at 21,455.55 and the S&P 500 sank 41.60 points or 0.64 percent to close at 6,420.26. For the week, the S&P 500 eased 0.1 percent and the Dow and NASDAQ both dipped 0.2 percent.
The weakness on Wall Street reflected profit taking, as some traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets.
Meanwhile, traders seemingly shrugged off a typically closely watched Commerce Department report showing U.S. consumer prices increased in line with estimates in July.
While the data increased confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates, a September rate cut may already have been priced into the markets. CME Group's FedWatch is currently indicating an 87.1 percent chance that the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point at its next monetary policy meeting.
Crude oil prices fell Friday on concerns on overproduction concerns as OPEC recently agreed to increase crude production by 547,000 barrels per day in September. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $0.60 or 0.93 percent at $64.00 per barrel.
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