Taiwan Bourse May Extend Winning Streak

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, rallying more than 570 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 24,020-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology and financial shares likely to lead the way higher. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are also expected to tick higher on Monday.

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

For the day, the index rose 17.49 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 24,021.26 after trading between 23,967.99 and 24,131.46.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.17 percent, while First Financial lost 0.53 percent, Fubon Financial was down 0.33 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.30 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company sank 0.42 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.25 percent, Largan Precision eased 0.21 percent, Catcher Technology slipped 0.23 percent, MediaTek shed 0.37 percent, Delta Electronics rallied 2.25 percent, Novatek Microelectronics skidded 1.12 percent, Formosa Plastics tumbled 1.70 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dropped 0.94 percent, Asia Cement fell 0.25 percent and Hon Hai Precision, Mega Financial and CTBC Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained well in the green throughout the session, finishing near daily highs.

The Dow climbed 206.97 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 44,175.61, while the NASDAQ jumped 207.32 points or 0.98 percent to close at a record 21,450.02 and the S&P 500 gained 49.45 points or 0.78 percent to end at 6,389.45.

For the week, the NASDAQ rallied 3.9 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.4 percent and the Dow shot up 1.4 percent.

Wall Street was led higher by the tech sector as shares of Apple (AAPL) showed a substantial move to the upside last week after announcing plans to spend about $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.

Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index climbing by 1.4 percent. Significant strength also emerged among banking, oil service, brokerage and networking stocks.

Crude oil posted very slight gains on Friday as uncertainty prevails over the U.S.-Russia conflict over the war with Ukraine, combined with the threat of sanctions on Russian oil exports. West Texas Intermediate crude for September was up $0.03 or 0.05 percent to $63.91 per barrel.