The Taiwan stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, plunging more than 600 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 23,400-point plateau and it\'s expected to open under pressure again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with continued selling pressure expected among technology and semiconductor stocks. The European and U.S. markets were mostly down and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.
The TSE finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the technology and cement sectors, while the plastics were up and the financials came in mixed.
For the day, the index tumbled 371.33 points or 1.56 percent to finish at 23,398.47 after trading between 23,148.74 and 23,450.91.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial stumbled 1.68 percent, while Mega Financial soared 2.03 percent, First Financial jumped 1.38 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 1.21 percent, E Sun Financial rallied 1.33 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company surrendered 2.43 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.57 percent, Hon Hai Precision plunged 3.77 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.79 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 0.92 percent, MediaTek tanked 3.40 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 2.31 percent, Formosa Plastics climbed 1.16 percent, Nan Ya Plastics added 0.60 percent, Asia Cement dropped 0.83 percent and Novatek Microelectronics and CTBC Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is poor as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly headed south and stayed deep in the red for the remainder of the session.
The Dow plunged 533.06 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 40,665.02, while the NASDAQ lost 125.70 points or 0.70 percent to end at 17,871.22 and the S&P 500 sank 43.68 points or 0.78 percent to close at 5,544.59.
The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns about the near-term outlook for the markets following Wednesday\'s tech sell-off following reports that the Biden\'s administration is considering tougher trade rules against companies in its chip crackdown on China.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed more than expected last week.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that growth by regional manufacturing was more widespread in July. Also, the Conference Board noted a modest decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in June.
Oil futures eased slightly on Thursday concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China, while the dollar\'s recovery weighed as well on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.03 at $82.82 a barrel.