Steady Start Eyed For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day slide in which it had given up more than 100 points or 0.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 17,550-point plateau and it may see mild support again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat to lower following U.S. inflation data. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index improved 79.72 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 17,545.32 after trading between 17,476.87 and 17,574.92.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.22 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.38 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.07 percent, First Financial collected 0.56 percent, Fubon Financial eased 0.16 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.34 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.50 percent, Largan Precision advanced 0.99 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.51 percent, MediaTek shed 0.43 percent, Delta Electronics improved 0.69 percent, Formosa Plastics retreated 1.43 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 1.55 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.25 percent, China Steel slid 0.19 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation, Novatek Microelectronics, E Sun Financial and Taiwan Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly plummeted deep into the red before rallying to finish mixed and flat.

The Dow rose 15.29 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 37,711.02, while the NASDAQ perked 0.54 points or 0.00 percent to close at 14,970.18 and the S&P 500 slipped 3.21 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,780.24.

The early downturn on Wall Street came as traders digested the Labor Department's highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation in December, which showed prices rose slightly more than expected.

A number of economists have said the data makes the Federal Reserve less likely to cut interest rates in March, with many predicting the central bank will hold off until its May meeting.

The late-day recovery attempt on Wall Street also came as treasury yields showed a notable move to the downside after showing a lack of direction for much of the day.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday as prices rebounded on likely disruptions in trade and supplies after Iran seized a tanker with Iraqi crude marked for delivery to Turkey. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.65 at $72.02 a barrel.