Taiwan Stock Market May Crack 26,000-Point Barrier

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the eight-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,450 points or 5.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 25,770-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology stocks expected to lead the way higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index jumped 331.11 points or 1.30 percent to finish at the daily high of 25,769.36 after trading as low as 25,475.25.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.17 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.48 percent, First Financial gained 0.68 percent, Fubon Financial shed 0.45 percent, E Sun Financial advanced 0.60 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spiked 1.58 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation improved 0.84 percent, Hon Hai Precision jumped 1.42 percent, Largan Precision added 0.65 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.08 percent, Delta Electronics surged 6.70 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rallied 3.42 percent, Formosa Plastics dipped 0.13 percent, Nan Ya Plastics tanked 2.12 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.69 percent and MediaTek and CTBC Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow climbed 124.10 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 46,142.42, while the NASDAQ rallied 209.40 points or 0.94 percent to end at 22,470.72 and the S&P 500 gained 31.61 points or 0.48 percent to close at 6,631.96.

Technology stocks led the markets higher amid a spike by shares of Intel (INTC), with the chipmaker skyrocketing by 22.8 percent to its best closing level in over a year.

The rally by Intel came after the company announced a collaboration with Nvidia (NVDA) to jointly develop multiple generations of custom data center and PC products.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims pulled back by more than expected last week. Also, the Conference Board said its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell more than expected in August.

Crude oil fell on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve hinted at a slowdown by the American economy. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $0.46 or 0.72 percent at $63.59 per barrel.