Taiwan Stock Market May Add To Its Winnings

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market ticked higher again on Friday, one day after snapping the three-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 240 points or 1.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 16,640-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow that lead.

The TSE finished slightly higher on Friday as the financial shares and technology stocks were mostly higher.

For the day, the index rose 10.44 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 16,644.94 after trading between 16,619.23 and 16,730.13.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial soared 2.19 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.28 percent, CTBC Financial dipped 0.21 percent, First Financial collected 0.57 percent, Fubon Financial jumped 1.89 percent, E Sun Financial gathered 0.41 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company eased 0.18 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation advanced 0.99 percent, Hon Hai Precision improved 0.94 percent, Largan Precision gained 0.49 percent, Catcher Technology fell 0.28 percent, MediaTek added 0.71 percent, Novatek Microelectronics and Formosa Plastics both increased 0.88 percent, Nan Ya Plastics spiked 1.82 percent, Asia Cement strengthened 1.00 percent, Taiwan Cement climbed 0.86 percent, China Steel rallied 0.75 percent and Delta Electronics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is slightly higher as the major averages opened higher but quickly faded and hugged the unchanged line, finally ending mixed.

The Dow climbed 115.81 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 34,837.71, while the NASDAQ eased 3.19 points or 0.02 percent to close at 14,031.81 and the S&P 500 rose 8.11 points or 0.18 percent to end at 4,515.77. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.3 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.5 percent and the Dow jumped 1.4 percent.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street followed the release of a mixed employment from the Labor Department. While the closely watched report showed modestly stronger than expected job growth in August, the report also showed an unexpected increase in the unemployment rate.

The increase in the unemployment rate added to optimism about the Federal Reserve leaving interest rates unchanged later this month, but traders continued to express some uncertainty about future meetings.

In other economic news, the Institute for Supply Management reported a slowdown in the pace of contraction in U.S. manufacturing activity last month.

Crude oil showed another significant move to the upside during trading on Friday, extending recent gains over supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery surged $1.92 or 2.3 percent to $85.55 a barrel, closing higher for the seventh straight session. The price of crude oil soared 7.2 percent for the week.