The Taiwan stock market on Thursday ended the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 480 points or 2.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,560-point plateau although it\'s likely to see renewed support on Friday.
The global forecast is upbeat on an improving outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.
For the day, the index dropped 139.74 points or 0.68 percent to finish at the daily low of 20,560.77 after peaking at 20,754.61.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial jumped 1.57 percent, while Mega Financial slumped 1.09 percent, CTBC Financial dropped 0.82 percent, First Financial lost 0.89 percent, E Sun Financial weakened 1.24 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company sank 0.75 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.59 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.34 percent, Catcher Technology skidded 1.13 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.62 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tanked 2.15 percent, Formosa Plastics slid 0.88 percent, Nan Ya Plastics shed 0.71 percent, Asia Cement stumbled 1.03 percent, Taiwan Cement tumbled 1.36 percent, China Steel fell 0.61 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation, MediaTek and Fubon Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Thursday but quickly bounced higher and spent the rest of the day in positive territory.
The Dow jumped 331.36 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 39,387.76, while the NASDAQ gained 43.46 points or 0.27 percent to close at 16,346.26 and the S&P 500 added 26.41 points or 0.51 percent to end at 5,214.08.
The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.
The data added to recently renewed optimism that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in the coming months.
While the Fed is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged in June, the chances rates will be lower by September have reached 89.3 percent, according to CME Group\'s FedWatch Tool.
Oil prices moved higher on Thursday, lifted by optimism about the outlook for demand and on recent data showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.27 at $79.26 a barrel.
Closer to home, Taiwan will release Q1 results for gross domestic product later today with forecasts suggesting an increase of 6.51 percent on year - up from 4.93 percent in the three months prior.