Taiwan Stocks May Benefit From Tech Boost

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has climbed higher in consecutive trading days, accelerating more than 700 points or 2.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 23,550-point plateau and it's got a solid lead again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with technology stocks expected to lead the markets higher. The European and U.S. markets were mostly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial, technology, plastic and cement sectors.

For the day, the index surged 639.41 points or 2.79 percent to finish at 23,547.71 after trading between 23,131.79 and 23,553.29.

Among the actives, Mega Financial climbed 1.04 percent, while CTBC Financial perked 0.16 percent, First Financial strengthened 1.46 percent, E Sun Financial collected 1.11 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company accelerated 4.65 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation improved 0.70 percent, Hon Hai Precision jumped 1.93 percent, Largan Precision soared 3.68 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.51 percent, MediaTek surged 4.40 percent, Delta Electronics advanced 1.09 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rose 0.30 percent, Formosa Plastics skyrocketed 5.07 percent, Nan Ya Plastics spiked 5.75 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.75 percent and Cathay Financial and Fubon Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Monday and largely remained that way, although the Dow dipped into the red by the day's end.

The Dow shed 25.57 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 42,706.56, while the NASDAQ rallied 243.30 points or 1.24 percent to close at 19,864.98 and the S&P 500 added 32.91 points or 0.55 percent to end at 5,975.38.

The early rally on Wall Street reflected continued strength among tech stocks after contract electronics giant Foxconn reported record fourth quarter revenue amid strong AI server demand.

Early buying interest was also generated in reaction to reports suggesting President-elect Donald Trump may scale back his tariff plans.

Crude oil prices were unable to hold early gains on Monday, snapping a five-day winning streak - although the downside was capped after top oil exporter Saudi Arabia raised prices for Asian buyers for the first time in three months. West Texas Intermediate Crude for February delivery fell $0.46 or 0.5 percent to $73.50 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide December figures for consumer prices later today; in November, overall inflation was up 0.10 percent on month and 2.08 percent on year.