Taiwan Shares May Rebound On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday halted the seven-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 750 points or 4.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 16,680-point plateau although it may bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on renewed optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the plastic and cement sectors, while the financials and technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index shed 63.03 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 16,682.67 after trading between 16,651.23 and 16,725.94.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial lost 0.44 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.52 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.59 percent, First Financial perked 0.19 percent, Fubon Financial slid 0.32 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.20 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation eased 0.10 percent, Hon Hai Precision sank 0.72 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.64 percent, Catcher Technology rallied 2.18 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.32 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.50 percent, Novatek Microelectronics fell 0.31 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.77 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dropped 0.61 percent, Asia Cement was down 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement dipped 0.15 percent, China Steel gained 0.44 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was unchanged.

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

The Dow surged 391.20 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 34,283.10, while the NASDAQ rallied 276.71 points or 2.05 percent to end at 13,798.11 and the S&P 500 jumped 67.89 points or 1.56 percent to close at 4,415.24. For the week, the NASDAQ shot up 2.4 percent, the S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent and the Dow climbed 0.7 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders shrugged off concerns about the outlook for interest rates sparked by remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday. Powell said the Fed is unsure rates are at a restrictive level to bring inflation down to 2 percent and warned the central bank would not hesitate to resume raising rates.

Despite Powell's comments, CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently still suggests the Fed is likely to leave interest rates over the next several months before cutting rates in mid-2024.

Stocks initially benefited from a pullback by treasury yields, which surged in afternoon trading on Thursday following a disappointing 30-year bond auction as well as Powell's comments. But the major averages continued to advance over the even though yields rebounded.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday, but the most active oil futures contract still suffered a third weekly loss as the disruption threats continued to fade. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up $1.43 or 1.9 percent at $77.17 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed more than 4 percent in the week.