The Taiwan stock market has closed lower now in three consecutive trading days, declining almost 220 points or 3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange finished just above the 7,240-point plateau, and now traders are expecting little change at the opening of trade on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with a touch of downside ahead of a key European summit meeting on Sunday. Technology stocks are expected to fall, while financials and oil companies may provide support. The European markets finished sharply lower on Thursday and the U.S. bourses were mixed but little changed - and the4 Asian markets are expected to split the difference.
The TSE finished sharply lower again on Thursday following losses among the financial, textile, food, plastic, technology, cement, paper and construction sectors.
For the day, the index plunged 109.05 points or 1.48 percent to finish at 7,244.32 after trading between 7,240.15 and 7,361.22 on turnover of 78.19 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, Nanya Technology plummeted by the 7 percent daily limit, while Inotera Memories plunged 5.84 percent and Catcher Technology added 0.33 percent.
Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks showed a lack of direction on Thursday, with traders reacting to just about every headline out of Europe. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the session mixed.
With reports suggesting that Germany and France are struggling to reach an agreement regarding the enhanced powers of the region's bailout fund ahead of a high-profile summit on Sunday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy revealed that European leaders will hold a second summit next Wednesday.
As a result of the focus on Europe, traders shrugged off some relatively upbeat U.S. economic data, including a report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showing an unexpected expansion in regional manufacturing activity. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index of current activity jumped to a positive 8.7 in October from a negative 17.5 in September, versus forecasts for a negative 9.8.
The Labor Department also reported a modest drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended October 15, although claims remained above the key 400,000 level. Initial jobless claims edged down to 403,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 409,000. Economists had expected claims to drop to 400,000 from the 404,000 originally reported for the previous week.
On the earnings front, credit card giant American Express (AXP) reported third quarter earnings of $1.03 per share on revenues of $7.57 billion. Analysts had expected $0.96 per share on revenue of $7.58 billion. Also, AT&T (T) reported third quarter earnings of $0.61 per share, in line with estimates. However, the telecom giant reported revenues that fell just below expectations.
While the tech-heavy NASDAQ edged down 5.42 points or 0.2 percent to 2,598.62, the Dow rose 37.16 points or 0.3 percent to 11,541.78 and the S&P 500 climbed 5.51 points or 0.5 percent to 1,215.39.
In economic news, Taiwan's export orders increased 2.72 percent on year in September, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Thursday, slower than the 3.46 percent growth economists expected. Month-on-month, export orders advanced a seasonally adjusted 1.25 percent in September.
In the third quarter, total export orders decreased a seasonally adjusted 2.03 percent quarter-on-quarter. In the January-September period, export orders grew 9.10 percent from the corresponding period last year, the agency said.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.