Higher Open Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering more than 170 points or 0.9 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 18,060-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following strong U.S. employment data, even though it dims the possibility of an interest rate hike next month. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index gained 91.83 points or 0.51 percent to finish at the daily high of 18,059.93 after trading as low as 17,985.89.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial sank 0.79 percent, while CTBC Financial retreated 1.22 percent, First Financial collected 0.37 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.15 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company climbed 1.11 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skidded 1.02 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 0.97 percent, Largan Precision tanked 2.87 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.26 percent, MediaTek added 0.65 percent, Delta Electronics rose 0.35 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was up 0.16 percent, Taiwan Cement lost 0.62 percent, China Steel slumped 0.40 percent and Novatek Microelectronics, Mega Financial, Formosa Plastics and Asia Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened mixed on Friday but consistently trended upward and finished well into the green, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.

The Dow climbed 134.62 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 38,654.42, while the NASDAQ surged 267.35 points or 1.74 percent to end at 15,628.95 and the S&P 500 jumped 52.42 points or 1.07 percent to close at 4,958.61. For the week, the NASDAQ shot up 1.1 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both jumped 1.4 percent.

The extended rally on Wall Street came amid a positive reaction to earnings news from Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) and online retail giant Amazon (AMZN).

Traders were also reacting to the closely watched report from the Labor Department showing much stronger than expected job growth in January.

The data further reduces the chances of an interest rate cut in March, but a strong jobs market is viewed as a good thing for the stock market and the economy.

Oil prices fell sharply on Friday as hopes of an early rate cut by the Federal Reserve faded after data showed a bigger than expected increase in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in January. The dollar's sharp uptick after the jobs data also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $1.54 or about 2.1 percent at $72.28 a barrel. The contract shed more than 7 percent in the week.