Taiwan Bourse May Add To Its Winnings On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market emphatically halted the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 100 points or 0.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 20,200-point plateau and it's tipped to open higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board, especially the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index rallied 414.64 points or 2.10 percent to finish at 20,199.09 after trading between 19,843.80 and 20,199.30.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial accelerated 2.21 percent, while Mega Financial climbed 1.12 percent, CTBC Financial spiked 2.24 percent, First Financial collected 1.29 percent, Fubon Financial strengthened 1.58 percent, E Sun Financial added 0.94 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company soared 3.43 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.76 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 3.26 percent, Largan Precision tumbled 1.74 percent, Catcher Technology surged 3.46 percent, MediaTek gained 0.88 percent, Delta Electronics skyrocketed 6.96 percent, Novatek Microelectronics perked 0.17 percent, Formosa Plastics advanced 0.90 percent, Nan Ya Plastics improved 2.61 percent, Asia Cement slumped 2.22 percent, Taiwan Cement fell 0.30 percent and China Steel increased 1.49 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened modestly higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session, ending at fresh record closing highs.

The Dow rallied 269.24 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 39,781.37, while the NASDAQ added 32.43 points or 0.20 percent to close at 16,401.84 and the S&P 500 gained 16.91 points or 0.32 percent to end at 5,241.53.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from positive reaction to Wednesday's monetary policy announcement by the Federal Reserve.

While the Fed left interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, the central bank also maintained its forecast for three interest rate cuts this year.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a slight drop by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales unexpectedly soared in February.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday, weighed down by a stronger dollar and weak gasoline demand in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May dipped $0.20 at $81.07 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see February figures for unemployment later today; in January, the jobless rate was 3.39 percent.