Taiwan Stock Market Set To Add To Its Winnings

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, gathering more than 100 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,610-point plateau and it's expected to extend its gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, supported by oil and technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The TSE finished barely higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financials, technology stocks and cement companies.

For the day, the index perked 9.72 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 15,608.42 after trading between 15,606.85 and 15,713.42.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.23 percent, while Mega Financial slid 0.46 percent, CTBC Financial sank 0.67 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.17 percent, First Financial collected 0.19 percent, E Sun Financial dipped 0.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.58 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation climbed 1.18 percent, Largan Precision advanced 0.90 percent, Catcher Technology lost 0.53 percent, Delta Electronics fell 0.52 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rose 0.24 percent, Formosa Plastics gained 0.55 percent, Asia Cement added 0.34 percent, Taiwan Cement was down 0.40 percent and Hon Hai Precision, MediaTek and Nan Ya Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 387.37 points or 1.17 percent to finish at 33,390.97, while the NASDAQ rallied 226.01 points or 1.97 percent to end at 11,689.01 and the S&P 500 jumped 64.29 points or 1.61 percent to close at 4,045.64. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 2.6 percent, the S&P gained 1.9 percent and the Dow climbed 1.8 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. A pullback by treasury yields also generated some buying interest, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note giving ground after jumping to a three-month closing high above 4.0 percent.

Traders also reacted positively to a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing a very slight slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in February.

Crude oil prices reversed an early sell-off after the United Arab Emirates denied a report that was thinking of leaving OPEC. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery surged $1.52 or 1.9 percent to $79.68 a barrel. For the week, crude oil spiked 4.4 percent.