Renewed Support Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Thursday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had spiked more than 650 points or 5.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 13,500-point plateau although it's expected to break significantly higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on encouraging inflation data and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses among the financial shares and mixed performances from the technology and cement companies.

For the day, the index dropped 135.05 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 13,503.76 after trading between 13,463.85 and 13,559.40.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial slumped 1.25 percent, while Mega Financial retreated 1.64 percent, CTBC Financial eased 0.24 percent, Fubon Financial declined 1.68 percent, First Financial shed 0.59 percent, E Sun Financial dropped 1.07 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tanked 2.28 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.48 percent, Hon Hai Precision tumbled 1.95 percent, Largan Precision gained 0.51 percent, Catcher Technology spiked 1.98 percent, MediaTek strengthened 1.54 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.09 percent, Novatek Microelectronics jumped 1.75 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dipped 0.14 percent, Asia Cement was up 0.13 percent, Taiwan Cement lost 0.63 percent and Formosa Plastics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages saw their best performance in two years, opening sharply higher Thursday and continuing to accelerate as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow skyrocketed 1,201.43 points or 3.70 percent to finish at 33,715.37, while the NASDAQ exploded for 760.97 points or 7.35 percent to close at 11,114.15 and the S&P 500 surged 207.80 points or 5.54 percent to end at 3,956.37.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a report from the Labor Department showing a smaller than expected monthly increase in consumer prices and a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of price growth.

The data suggests the Federal Reserve's efforts to contain inflation are having an effect, reinforcing recent optimism the central bank will slow the pace of interest rate hikes as early as next month.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, rebounding after three straight days of losses as the dollar fell on the better than expected U.S. inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.64 or 0.8 percent at $86.47 a barrel.