Taiwan Stock Market Overdue For Consolidation

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in five straight sessions, accelerating almost 775 points or 3.2 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 23,275-point plateau although it's expected to see profit taking on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower in this holiday-shortened week, with technology stocks likely to be a key drag. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index picked up 28.78 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 23,275.68 after trading between 23,204.35 and 23,335.66.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial advanced 0.87 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.26 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.32 percent, First Financial and E Sun Financial both shed 0.55 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.17 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.46 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.23 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.53 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.31 percent, Catcher Technology improved 0.79 percent, MediaTek gained 0.70 percent, Delta Electronics increased 0.82 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dipped 0.20 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.27 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gathered 0.32 percent and Asia Cement sank 0.49 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained that way throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 333.59 point or 0.77 percent to finish at 42,992.21, while the NASDAQ slumped 298.37 points or 1.49 percent to close at 19.722.03 and the S&P 500 sank 66.75 points or 1.11 percent to end at 5,970.84.

For the week, the Dow picked up 1.4 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P both advanced 1.5 percent.

The numbers may have been a bit skewed by light volume, with many investors away from their desks on holiday between Christmas and New Year's.

On the economic front, data showed that U.S. retail inventories, excluding autos, increased by 0.6 percent on month in November, following an upwardly revised 0.3 percent rise in the prior month, according to preliminary estimates.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday after data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $70.60 a barrel, gaining about 1.4 percent.