On Thursday, the Taiwan stock market managed to halt a two-day decline, during which it had lost nearly 360 points, equating to a 1.5 percent drop. As of now, the Taiwan Stock Exchange hovers just below the 23,050 mark, though indications suggest a possible downward trend may resume on Friday.
The global outlook for Asian markets is somewhat negative, with oil and technology shares set to lead any downturn. While European markets showed mixed and stable results, U.S. exchanges did not perform well, hinting that Asian markets might experience a moderate decline.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange saw modest gains on Thursday. The financial sector saw improvements, whereas plastics stocks showed weakness, and technology yielded mixed results. By the end of the trading day, the index rose by 143.17 points, or 0.63 percent, closing at 23,046.80. It fluctuated between a low of 23,030.48 and a high of 23,189.29 during the session.
Regarding the active stocks, Cathay Financial increased by 1.75 percent, Mega Financial by 0.13 percent, CTBC Financial by 1.28 percent, First Financial by 0.90 percent, and Fubon Financial surged by 2.51 percent. Other noteworthy movements included E Sun Financial's rise of 0.18 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's growth of 1.44 percent, and United Microelectronics Corporation's decline of 1.16 percent. Hon Hai Precision dipped by 0.26 percent, Largan Precision increased by 2.02 percent, while Catcher Technology fell by 1.34 percent. MediaTek saw a notable gain of 2.22 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.60 percent, and Novatek Microelectronics decreased by 0.62 percent. Furthermore, Formosa Plastics dropped by 2.88 percent, Nan Ya Plastics by 3.61 percent, whereas Asia Cement increased by 0.35 percent.
In the United States, Wall Street closed on a negative note. The major indices opened with mixed signals but quickly trended downward, staying in the red for the remainder of the day and closing near session lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 234.44 points, or 0.64 percent, to end at 43,914.12. The NASDAQ Composite dropped by 132.05 points, or 0.66 percent, concluding at 19,769.84, while the S&P 500 declined by 32.94 points, or 0.54 percent, finishing at 6,051.25.
Wall Street's downturn was partly due to traders opting to capitalize on Wednesday's strong performance, which saw the NASDAQ closing above the 20,000 mark for the first time. Additionally, a report from the U.S. Labor Department indicating a larger-than-expected rise in producer prices for November contributed to the negative market sentiment.
Although the Federal Reserve is widely anticipated to reduce interest rates next week, the recent data has caused some investors to worry about the pace at which the central bank might cut rates in the early months of the upcoming year.
Oil futures also declined on Thursday, following a three-day streak of increases. This downturn came after the International Energy Agency forecasted an oversupply in the oil market for the next year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January fell by $0.27, or 0.4 percent, settling at $70.02 per barrel.
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