The Taiwan stock market has enjoyed a consecutive five-session rally, gaining nearly 775 points, translating to a 3.2% increase during this period. Currently, the Taiwan Stock Exchange stands just above the 23,275 mark. Despite this upward trend, there is a prevailing expectation of profit-taking as the market opens on Monday.
This week, marked by holidays, presents a mixed to bearish outlook for Asian markets, largely influenced by a downturn in technology stocks. While European markets experienced an upswing, U.S. markets closed lower, and it is anticipated that Asian markets might follow this downward trend.
On Friday, the Taiwan Stock Exchange recorded a modest increase, driven by gains in the plastics sector, with financial and technology stocks exhibiting mixed results. The index gained 28.78 points or 0.12%, closing at 23,275.68, after fluctuating between 23,204.35 and 23,335.66 during the day's trading.
Among the active stocks, Cathay Financial rose by 0.87%, Mega Financial increased by 0.26%, and CTBC Financial saw a rise of 0.32%. Conversely, First Financial and E Sun Financial lost 0.55% each. Fubon Financial had a slight gain of 0.17%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose by 0.46%, while United Microelectronics Corporation dipped by 0.23%. Hon Hai Precision fell by 0.53%, Largan Precision decreased by 1.31%, Catcher Technology improved by 0.79%, MediaTek gained 0.70%, and Delta Electronics climbed by 0.82%. Novatek Microelectronics saw a slight dip of 0.20%, Formosa Plastics increased by 0.27%, Nan Ya Plastics added 0.32%, and Asia Cement dropped by 0.49%.
The negative momentum from Wall Street is evident, as major indices opened lower and consistently declined throughout the trading session, closing near the day’s lows.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 333.59 points, or 0.77%, finishing at 42,992.21. The NASDAQ Composite declined by 298.37 points, or 1.49%, to close at 19,722.03, and the S&P 500 decreased by 66.75 points, or 1.11%, ending at 5,970.84.
For the past week, the Dow increased by 1.4%, and both the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 rose by 1.5%. However, these figures might be slightly distorted due to reduced trading volumes, as many investors were on holiday between Christmas and New Year’s.
On the economic scene, data reveals that U.S. retail inventories, excluding automobiles, saw a 0.6% month-over-month increase in November, following a revised 0.3% rise from the previous month, according to preliminary estimates.
In the energy sector, oil prices saw an uptick on Friday. This was attributed to a notable reduction in U.S. crude inventories last week and the ongoing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, both factors supporting the rise. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February settled at $70.60 per barrel, marking a gain of approximately 1.4%.