Taiwan Stock Market May Crack Resistance At 19,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one session after halting the three-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 270 points or 1.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 18,960-point plateau and it's likely to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast is upbeat on encouraging inflation data from the United States. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the technology and plastic sectors.

For the day, the index advanced 112.36 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 18,966.77 after trading between 18,794.62 and 19,019.69.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial jumped 1.69 percent, while Mega Financial strengthened 1.31 percent, CTBC Financial improved 1.38 percent, First Financial collected 0.74 percent, Fubon Financial rallied 1.64 percent, E Sun Financial added 0.60 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skidded 1.15 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation climbed 1.45 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.48 percent, Largan Precision tumbled 1.89 percent, Catcher Technology increased 0.77 percent, MediaTek soared 2.24 percent, Delta Electronics spiked 1.90 percent, Novatek Microelectronics lost 0.66 percent, Formosa Plastics eased 0.14 percent, Nan Ya Plastics advanced 1.36 percent, Asia Cement rose 0.87 percent, China Steel dipped 0.20 percent and Taiwan Cement was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher but quickly faded before later accelerating into the green to end near session highs.

The Dow added 47.37 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 38,996.39, while the NASDAQ jumped 144.18 points or 0.90 percent to end at 16,091.92 and the S&P 500 gained 26.51 points or 0.52 percent to close at 5,096.27.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Commerce Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in January.

The inflation readings are said to be favored by the Federal Reserve, and the data generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In other U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a bigger than expected increase in weekly jobless claims, while the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly saw a sharp pullback by pending home sales in January.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday as concerns about reduced fuel demand outweighing hopes for the likely extension of production cuts by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April fell $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.