Additional Support Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in three consecutive sessions, rallying more than 800 points or 3.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 26,380-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with gains from the technology stocks likely offset by weakness from the oil companies. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the technology stocks, weakness from the plastics and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index surged 395.48 points or 1.52 percent to finish at 26,378.39 after trading between 26,330.25 and 26,489.79.

Among the actives, Mega Financial shed 0.59 percent, while CTBC Financial perked 0.16 percent, First Financial retreated 1.34 percent, E Sun Financial skidded 1.05 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 3.02 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation slumped 1.02 percent, Hon Hai Precision spiked 2.97 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.21 percent, Catcher Technology improved 0.83 percent, MediaTek shed 0.39 percent, Delta Electronics accelerated 2.64 percent, Novatek Microelectronics added 0.48 percent, Formosa Plastics tumbled 1.96 percent, Nan Ya Plastics tanked 2.03 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.40 percent and Cathay Financial and Fubon Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be cautiously optimistic as the major averages recovered from a midday slump on Thursday to finish with mild gains at fresh record highs.

The Dow added 78.62 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 46,519.72, while the NASDAQ gained 88.89 points or 0.39 percent to end at 22,844.05 and the S&P 500 perked 4.15 points or 0.06 percent to close at 6,715.35.

The continued advance by the major averages reflected optimism about the artificial intelligence trade, which contributed to strength among tech stocks, especially Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Meanwhile, traders continued to shrug off concerns about the economic impact of the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which entered its second day with no signs of an imminent resolution.

Due to the shutdown, the releases of reports on weekly jobless claims and factory orders that were scheduled for this week have been indefinitely postponed.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Thursday on anxiety about the long-term impact of the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which enters the second day today. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $1.23 or 1.99 percent at $60.55 per barrel.