Taiwan Shares May Find Support On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 500 points or 1.6 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 31,780-point plateau although it's expected to open in the green on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with bargain hunting among the technology companies likely to lead the markets higher. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index slipped 18.38 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 31,782.92 after trading between 31,164.28 and 31,842.62.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.33 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.25 percent, CTBC Financial eased 0.16 percent, First Financial dipped 0.17 percent, E Sun Financial perked 0.15 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 0.85 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.65 percent, Hon Hai Precision fell 0.23 percent, Largan Precision vaulted 1.30 percent, Catcher Technology stumbled 2.68 percent, MediaTek tanked 3.39 percent, Delta Electronics climbed 0.87 percent, Novatek Microelectronics expanded 1.11 percent, Formosa Plastics plunged 3.07 percent, Nan Ya Plastics retreated1.34 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.42 percent an Fubon Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened firmly higher on Friday and continued to accelerate throughout the day, ending at session highs.

The Dow surged 1,206.97 points or 2.47 percent to finish at a record 50,115.67, while the NASDAQ soared 490.61 points or 2.18 percent to close at 23,031.21 and the S&P 500 jumped 133.90 points or 1.97 percent to end at 6,932.30.

For the week, the Dow rallied 2.5 percent, while the S&P dipped 0.1 percent and the NASDAQ fell 1.8 percent.

The rally on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the recent weakness, especially among the technology shares that had dragged the NASDAQ to its lowest close in two months.

Airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, as did computer hardware and semiconductor stocks. A sharp increase by the price of gold also provided significant strength to the markets.

Crude oil moved higher on Friday after the U.S. issued an advisory telling its citizens to depart from Iran, further stoking concerns of war. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.20 or 0.32 percent at $63.49 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release January data for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to jump 40.85 percent on year, up from 14.90 percent in December. Exports are called higher by an annual 51.9 percent, up from 43.4 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $16.70 billion, down from 19.43 billion a month earlier.