Taiwan Shares May See Additional Support

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 760 points or 3.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 22,490-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished slightly higher again on Thursday following gains from the plastics and mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index improved 61.73 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 22,492.34 after trading between 22,391.27 and 22,587.67.

Among the actives, Fubon Financial and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company both added 0.47 percent, while E Sun Financial collected 0.31 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.26 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.62 percent, Largan Precision stumbled 1.48 percent, MediaTek fell 0.39 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 0.83 percent, Novatek Microelectronics sank 0.75 percent, Formosa Plastics rallied 1.28 percent, Nan Ya Plastics spiked 2.51 percent, Asia Cement advanced 0.95 percent and Cathay Financial, Mega Financial, CTBC Financial, First Financial and Catcher Technology were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened with mild gains on Thursday but continued to pick up steam throughout the day, ending at session highs and just shy of all-time highs.

The Dow jumped 404.41 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 43,386.84, while the NASDAQ rallied 194.36 points or 0.97 percent to close at 20,167.91 and the S&P 500 gained 48.86 points or 0.80 percent to end at 6,141.02.

The markets continued to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has helped propel the major averages well off their April lows despite lingering uncertainty about tariffs.

The strength on Wall Street also came following the release of a slew of U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing an unexpected decrease by initial jobless claims last week.

Also, revised data released by the Commerce Department showed the U.S. economy shrank by more than previously estimated in the first quarter of 2025, sparking optimism for future rate cuts sooner rather than later.

Crude oil extended its recovery on Thursday amid the ongoing Israel-Iran ceasefire and reports of an increase in fuel demand in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery closed up by $0.32 to settle at $65.24 per barrel.