The Taiwan stock market on Friday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 50 points or 0.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 12,900-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to slightly higher, with hopes for stimulus tempered by climbing coronavirus cases. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The TSE finished slightly lower on Friday as the financial shares and technology stocks were mostly in the red.
For the day, the index eased 18.21 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 12,898.82 after trading between 12,875.23 and 12,963.26.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.26 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial dipped 0.24 percent, First Financial lost 0.49 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.66 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation sank 0.76 percent, Hon Hai Precision eased 0.12 percent, Largan Precision climbed 1.27 percent, Catcher Technology rallied 3.03 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.45 percent, Asia Cement dropped 0.84 percent, Taiwan Cement retreated 0.85 percent and Formosa Chemical, Formosa Plastic and CTBC Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks showed a lack of direction on Friday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending mixed.
The Dow eased 28.09 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 28,335.57, while the NASDAQ gained 42.28 points or 0.37 percent to end at 11,548.28 and the S&P 500 rose 11.90 points or 0.34 percent to close at 3,465.39. For the week, the Dow shed 0.9 percent, the NASDAQ lost 1.1 percent and the S&P fell 0.5 percent.
The choppy trading on Friday came amid a lack of concrete news out of Washington regarding a new coronavirus stimulus bill. Traders have generally remained optimistic that a bill will eventually be passed, although they may be tired of waiting.
A steep drop by shares of Intel (INTC) weighed on the Dow, with the semiconductor giant plunging 10.6 percent after reporting Q3 earnings that beat estimates but on weaker than expected revenues for its Data Center Group. Credit card giant American Express (AXP) also tumbled after reporting Q3 earnings that missed expectations.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Friday, weighed down by worries about energy demand due to the surge in coronavirus cases and lockdown measures in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down by $0.79 or 1.9 percent at $39.85 a barrel.
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