The Taiwan stock market on Friday finally saw an end to the 11-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 750 points or 11 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange finished just above the 7,860-point plateau, and now analysts are forecasting a mixed lead on Monday - although the market remains overbought and ripe for profit taking.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic following the passage of a critical austerity budget vote from the Greek Parliament although soft economic data from the United States may limit the upside. The European and U.S. markets were down on Friday, and the Asian markets are expected to tick higher after heavy selling on Friday.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday as investors locked in gains, particularly among the technology, food and textile stocks - although the construction sector provided support.
For the day, the index dropped 48.51 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 7,862.27 after trading between 7,848.78 and 7,941.63 on turnover of 147.62 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the decliners, Largan plummeted by the 7 percent daily limit and Hon Hai Precision lost 1.45 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks saw notable weakness on Friday after moving modestly higher in the three previous sessions. Renewed concerns about the financial situation in Greece contributed to the pullback by the markets.
European finance ministers were unimpressed with the austerity agreement reached by Greek political leaders on Thursday, calling for an additional 325 million euros in savings. The other Eurozone countries are also calling for guarantees that the measures will be implemented before signing off on a new 130 billion euro bailout for the debt-plagued nation.
A report showing a notable drop in Chinese imports in January also contributed to the weakness on Wall Street, with the data raising concerns about the level demand in China. The report showed that the value of Chinese imports in January was down 15.3 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
Negative sentiment was also generated by a report from Reuters and the University of Michigan showing that U.S. consumer sentiment has deteriorated by more than expected in the month of February. The report showed that the consumer sentiment index dropped to a reading of 72.5 in February from January's final reading of 75.0. Economists had been expecting the index to edge down to 74.8.
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that the U.S. trade deficit came in wider than expected in the month of December, with the value of imports increasing at a faster rate than the value of exports.
The major averages moved to the upside going into the close but still ended the day firmly in the red. The Dow slid 89.23 points or 0.7 percent to finish at 12,801.23, while the NASDAQ fell 23.35 points or 0.8 percent to 2,903.88 and the S&P 500 dropped 9.31 points or 0.7 percent at 1,342.64. The averages all closed modestly lower for the week as the Dow fell 0.5 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 edged down by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
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Market Analysis
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.