Tech Shares May Weigh On Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market turned lower again on Friday, one day after snapping the three-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 2,600 points or 8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 33,600-point plateau and it's likely to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on surging oil prices and the ongoing war in the Middle East. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished slightly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index sank 73.40 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 33,599.54 after trading between 33,322.52 and 33,829.49.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.33 percent, while First Financial climbed 1.20 percent, Fubon Financial tumbled 1.88 percent, E Sun Financial dipped 0.15 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.53 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation eased 0.16 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.45 percent, Largan Precision improved 0.85 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 1.08 percent, MediaTek sank 0.56 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.12 percent, Novatek Microelectronics was up 0.13 percent, Formosa Plastics surged 5.91 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was down 0.12 percent, Asia Cement added 0.44 percent and Mega Financial and CTBC Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained under water throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 453.19 points or 0.95 percent to finish at 47,501.55, while the NASDAQ tumbled 361.31 points or 1.59 percent to close at 22,387.68 and the S&P 500 sank 90.69 points or 1.33 percent to end at 6,740.02.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid an extended surge by the price of crude oil. Crude oil has skyrocketed over the past week as the U.S.-Iran conflict spreads across the Middle East, leading to concerns about a global energy crisis.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday after Qatar warned of a production halt in the gulf as the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has heavily disrupted energy supply routes through the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up $9.88 or 12.20 percent at $90.89 per barrel.

As the Middle East conflict entered its seventh day, Israel intensified air strikes on Iran, while the U.S. said its attacks on Iran are going to "surge dramatically."

Negative sentiment was also generated by the watched Labor Department report showing U.S. unemployment unexpectedly in February. The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent in February from 4.3 percent in January.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide February data for imports, exports ad trade balance later today. In January, imports surged 63.6 percent on year and exports soared 69.9 percent for a trade surplus of $18.89 billion.