Taiwan Bourse May Hand Back Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 260 points or 1.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,915-point plateau, although it's likely to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uninspired on waning optimism over trade agreements that might end U.S. tariffs. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index spiked 371.64 points or 1.81 percent to finish at 20,915.04.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial and CTBC Financial both eased 0.16 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.39 percent, First Financial and Formosa Plastics both jumped 1.96 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.16 percent, E Sun Financial accelerated 3.29 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 3.38 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.55 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.68 percent, Largan Precision strengthened 1.64 percent, Catcher Technology improved 2.11 percent, MediaTek soared 2.71 percent, Delta Electronics gathered 0.54 percent, Novatek Microelectronics climbed 0.59 percent, Nan Ya Plastics increased 1.62 percent and Asia Cement was up 1.11 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly headed south to finish mostly lower.

The Dow slumped 119.07 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 41,249.38, while the NASDAQ rose 0.78 points or 0.00 percent to close at 17,928.92 and the S&P 500 slipped 4.03 points or 0.07 percent to end at 5,659.91.

For the week, the S&P 500 shed 0.5 percent, the NASDAQ fell 0.3 percent and the Dow eased 0.2 percent.

The early strength on Wall Street came amid optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal ahead of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's talks with Chinese officials in Switzerland over the weekend.

However, President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that a higher "80% Tariff on China seems right," partly offsetting the positive sentiment.

Crude oil futures moved sharply higher on Friday, extending gains in the previous session amid optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery crude for June delivery jumped $1.11 or 1.9 percent to $61.02 a barrel.