The losing streak has reached three sessions now for the Taiwan stock market, which has plummeted almost 300 points or 2.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 10,355-point plateau, although it's expected to see support on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism the U.S. government will avoid a shutdown, and a bump in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.
The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and the technology stocks.
For the day, the index shed 38.16 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 10,355.76 after trading between 10,322.76 and 10,418.97 on turnover of 137.22 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, Fubon Financial and Cathay Financial both dropped 1.68 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.06 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.22 percent, AU Optronics tumbled 1.59 percent, TPK Holding plunged 5.05 percent, Innolux plunged 3.09 percent, Largan Precision added 0.82 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.64 percent, China Steel eased 0.20 percent and Taiwan Steel was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is firm as stocks saw moderate strength on Thursday, although they remained beneath their recent record closing highs.
The Dow rose 70.57 points or 0.29 percent to 24,211.48, while the NASDAQ advanced 36.47 points or 0.54 percent to 6,812.84 and the S&P 500 climbed 7.71 points or 0.29 percent to 2,636.98.
The strength reflected optimism about lawmakers passing a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown ahead of Friday's deadline. However, traders continued to express uncertainty about the details of the Republican tax reform bill.
In economic news, the Labor Department noted an unexpected decrease in first-time claims for jobless benefits in the week ended December 2. Also, the Federal Reserve said that consumer credit jumped by $20.5 billion in October, beating estimates.
Crude oil futures rebounded Thursday, as traders bet this week's decline was overdone. WTI light sweet crude oil was up 76 cents at $56.72 a barrel, having slipped from near $60 over the past few weeks.
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