(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking almost 300 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 33,550-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on soaring crude oil prices and pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the plastics companies, gains from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.
For the day, the index lost 145.80 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 33,543.88 after trading between 33,379.24 and 33,989.18.
Among the actives, Mega Financial shed 0.51 percent, while CTBC Financial collected 0.97 percent, First Financial added 0.52 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.45 percent, E Sun Financial perked 0.32 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company sank 0.54 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation slumped 1.53 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 0.98 percent, Largan Precision jumped 1.51 percent, Catcher Technology skidded 1.06 percent, MediaTek climbed 1.19 percent, Delta Electronics vaulted 1.37 percent, Novatek Microelectronics spiked 3.08 percent, Formosa Plastics tumbled 2.06 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plummeted 6.89 percent, Asia Cement rallied 2.05 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red on Friday and continued to weaken as the day progressed, ending near session lows.
The Dow tumbled 443.96 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 45,577.47, while the NASDAQ plunged 443.08 points or 2.01 percent to close at 21,647.61 and the S&P 500 sank 100.01 points or 1.51 percent to end at 6,506.48. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 2.1 percent and the S&P lost 1.9 percent.
The sell-off on Wall Street came amid continued volatility by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions and showed wild swings over the course of the day.
Crude oil prices surged on Friday as fresh attacks on Kuwait by Iran renewed concerns of a prolonged gulf war, stoking production disruption worries. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up by $1.68 or 1.75 percent at $97.82 per barrel.
Oil prices remain sharply higher compared to when the war began, fueling concerns about the outlook for inflation and interest rates. CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates the Federal Reserve is not likely to cut interest rates this year and there's a chance rates could even be higher by the end of the year.
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