The Taiwan stock market on Friday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 350 points or 1.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 23,350-point plateau although it may head south again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and fairly flat and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.
The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the plastics companies were mixed.
For the day, the index added 155.93 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 23,348.45 after trading between 23,222.77 and 23,388.53.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.34 percent, while Mega Financial perked 0.13 percent, First Financial added 0.37 percent, Fubon Financial advanced 0.99 percent, E Sun Financial sank 0.72 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company gained 0.47 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation slid 0.20 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.13 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.21 percent, MediaTek surged 3.54 percent, Delta Electronics spiked 2.16 percent, Novatek Microelectronics shed 0.58 percent, Formosa Plastics strengthened 1.41 percent, Nan Ya Plastics eased 0.12 percent, Asia Cement fell 0.21 percent and Largan Precision and CTBC Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street again offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but slumped as the day progressed to end mixed.
The Dow stumbled 259.96 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 42,114.40, while the NASDAQ added 103.12 points or 0.56 percent to close at 18,518.61 and the S&P 500 eased 1.74 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,808.12.
For the week, the Dow tumbled 2.7 percent and the S&P 500 slumped 1.0 percent, but the NASDAQ rose 0.2 percent.
Stocks moved mostly higher early in the session amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for the economy after the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment unexpectedly improved in October.
Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as treasury yields rebounded following Thursdays pullback amid lingering concerns the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates slower than previously anticipated.
Oil prices rose sharply on Friday amid worries about geopolitical tensions and for potential output adjustments from OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $1.69 or 2.3 percent at $71.78 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 3.8 percent in the week.