(fxcue news) - The Taiwan stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 1,500 points or 7.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,870-point plateau although it's expected to open in the green on Friday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat in easing concerns for the health of the United States economy. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead. The TSE finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies. For the day, the index slumped 425.18 points or 2.00 percent to finish at 20,870.10 after trading between 20,723.26 and 21,074.19. Among the actives, Cathay Financial declined 1.37 percent, while Mega Financial plummeted 4.87 percent, CTBC Financial lost 0.44 percent, First Financial tumbled 3.65 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.61 percent, E Sun Financial slid 0.39 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tanked 2.61 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.38 percent, Hon Hai Precision plunged 4.11 percent, Largan Precision skidded 1.08 percent, Catcher Technology retreated 1.35 percent, MediaTek surrendered 3.04 percent, Delta Electronics shed 0.66 percent, Formosa Plastics dropped 3.09 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 2.32 percent, Asia Cement jumped 1.80 percent and Novatek Microelectronics was unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher and continued to accelerate throughout the day, ending near session highs. The Dow surged 683.04 points or 1.76 percent to finish at 39,446.49, while the NASDAQ rallied 464.22 points or 2.87 percent to end at 16,660.02 and the S&P 500 jumped 119.81 points or 2.30 percent to close at 5,319.31. The rally on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by more than expected last week. The data helped ease concerns about the strength of the labor market, which have contributed to recent selling on Wall Street. On the corporate scene, athletic apparel company Under Armour (UAA) and pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (LLY) bounced higher after strong results, while Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) slumped after showing soft numbers. Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, amid possible supply disruptions due to Middle East tensions, and on hopes of increased demand in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.96 or 1.28 percent at $76.19 a barrel.