Taiwan Bourse Likely To Crack Resistance At 15,300 Points

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in consecutive trading days, gathering almost 350 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,290-point plateau and it's expected to extend its gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism for economic growth and easing inflation. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher on Friday and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the plastics, weakness from the cement companies and mixed performances from the financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index advanced 91.17 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 15,288.97 after trading between 15,198.93 and 15,298.42.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.11 percent, while Mega Financial dipped 0.28 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.21 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.17 percent, First Financial sank 0.56 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.18 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.58 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation strengthened 1.56 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.44 percent, Largan Precision lost 0.48 percent, MediaTek rallied 2.09 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 2.02 percent, Formosa Plastics jumped 1.30 percent, Nan Ya Plastics climbed 1.02 percent, Asia Cement slumped 0.71 percent, Taiwan Cement was down 0.13 percent and Catcher Technology was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and accelerated as the session progressed, ending near daily highs.

The Dow surged 424/35 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 33,761.05, while the NASDAQ soared 267.29 points or 2.09 percent to end at 13,047.19 and the S&P 500 jumped 72.88 points or 1.73 percent to close at 4,280.15.

For the week, the S&P 500 skyrocketed 3.3 percent for its fourth straight weekly gain, while the NASDAQ spiked 3.1 percent and the Dow gained 2.9 percent.

Optimism that inflation has peaked contributed to the continued strength on Wall Street following tamer than expected readings last week on consumer and producer prices.

Adding to the positive sentiment about inflation, the Labor Department said U.S. import prices fell more than expected in July. Buying interest was also generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing U.S. consumer sentiment has improved much more than expected in August.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Friday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) lowered its oil demand forecast for 2022. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $2.25 or 2.4 percent at $92.09 a barrel. For the week, WIT rose 3.5 percent.