Tech Shares May Weigh On Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 650 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just shy of the 29,350-point plateau although the rally my stall on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uncertain amidst geopolitical concerns in South America. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the somewhat overbought Asian bourses are expected to open in mixed fashion.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks, although the plastics companies were soft.

For the day, the index jumped 386.21 points or 1.33 percent to finish at 29,349.81 after trading between 29,007.75 and 29,363.43.

Among the actives, Mega Financial collected 0.75 percent, while First Financial gained 0.51 percent, Fubon Financial shed 0.52 percent, E Sun Financial climbed 1.04 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spiked 2.26 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skidded 1.12 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.65 percent, Largan Precision vaulted 3.61 percent, Catcher Technology slumped 1.20 percent, MediaTek rallied 2.80 percent, Delta Electronics soared 3.32 percent, Novatek Microelectronics stumbled 1.87 percent, Formosa Plastics retreated 1.41 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plunged 5.32 percent, Asia Cement climbed 1.34 percent and Cathay Financial and CTBC Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly upbeat as the major averages spent most of Friday's session hugging the line for much of the day before finishing mostly in the green.

The Dow climbed 319.09 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 48,382.39, while the NASDAQ dipped 6.37 points or 0.03 percent to close at 23,235.63 and the S&P 500 added12.97 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,858.47.

For the week, the NASDAQ dropped 1.5 percent, the S&P sank 1.0 percent and the Dow lost 0.7 percent.

The lackluster performance by the broader markets came as some traders remained away from their desks following the New Year's Day holiday on Thursday.

Geopolitical concerns may weigh on sentiment after the U.S. carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela. That country's leader, President Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife, had been captured and flown out of Venezuela.

Crude oil prices ticked lower on Friday ahead of Sunday's OPEC meeting, with West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery dipping $0.12 or 0.2 percent to $57.30. On Sunday, OPEC decided to keep output levels unchanged, as expected. For 2025, crude fell almost 20 percent.