Ahead of Monday's holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival, the Taiwan stock market had turned right back to the upside again on Friday - one session after it had halted the five-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 330 points or 3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just below the 9,050-point plateau, and now analysts are forecasting heavy losses at the opening of trade on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains broadly negative as markets continue to fret over the weak U.S. jobs data plus a fall in commodity prices. Oil and gold stocks figure to fall under pressure, along with properties and financials. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower, and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit - especially the ones that were off on Monday.
The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the technology, plastic, financial, construction and paper sectors.
For the day, the index added 54.92 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 9,046.28 after trading between 8,997.35 and 9,052.18 on turnover of 90.97 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, AsusTek climbed 2.39 percent, while Quanta surged 5.57 percent, Formosa Plastics jumped 1.32 percent and Nan Ya Plastics shed 0.62 percent.
The lead from Wall Street suggests continued consolidation as stocks saw further downside on Monday after seeing significant weakness last week. Concerns about the outlook for the economy continued to weigh on the markets following last Friday's disappointing employment data.
While stocks initially showed a lack of direction, considerable selling pressure emerged over the day, as traders continued to worry about the implications of the weak jobs data. The monthly employment report released by the Labor Department last Friday showed much weaker than expected job growth in the month of May as well as an unexpected uptick by the unemployment rate.
The report, which came on the heels of the release of a series of disappointing economic reports, has led to concerns about a soft patch for the economy and the possibility of a double-dip recession. Additionally, with no major economic data released on Monday, the disappointing jobs report remained fresh in traders' minds.
In corporate news, shares of Apple (AAPL) closed lower on the day as the iPod and iPhone maker kicked off its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is on a medical leave of absence, received a standing ovation as he made an appearance at the conference's keynote address. Jobs unveiled Apple's new iCloud service as the company looks to climb on to the "cloud computing" bandwagon.
The major averages closed firmly in negative territory and once again set new two-month closing lows. The Dow fell 61.30 points or 0.5 percent to 12,089.96, the NASDAQ dropped 30.22 points or 1.1 percent to 2,702.56 and the S&P 500 slid 13.99 points or 1.1 percent to 1,286.17.
In economic news, Taiwan will on Tuesday provide May numbers for consumer and wholesale prices, with CPI expected to come in at 1.64 percent - up from 1.34 percent in April. The wholesale price index is expected to show 4.4 percent, easing from 4.53 percent in the previous month.
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