Win Streak May Continue For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, improving almost 600 points or 4.1 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,550-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, thanks to encouraging economic and earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were up sharply and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday as large gains from the technology stocks were dented by weakness from the financials and cement companies.

For the day, the index advanced 112.10 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 14,550.62 after trading between 14,378.33 and 14,579.73.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial tumbled 1.89 percent, while Mega Financial surrendered 1.88 percent, CTBC Financial tanked 2.02 percent, Fubon Financial declined 1.72 percent, First Financial retreated 1.98 percent, E Sun Financial sank 0.73 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company soared 3.68 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.39 percent, Largan Precision surged 4.46 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.30 percent, MediaTek rose 0.31 percent, Delta Electronics rallied 2.30 percent, Formosa Plastics slumped 0.46 percent, Nan Ya Plastics eased 0.16 percent, Asia Cement plunged 2.60 percent, Taiwan Cement plummeted 2.88 percent and Hon Hai Precision was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained firmly in the green throughout the session.

The Dow surged 658.09 points or 2.15 percent to finish at 31,288.26, while the NASDAQ spiked 201.24 points or 1.79 percent to end at 11,452.42 and the S&P 500 jumped 72.78 points or 1.92 percent to close at 3,863.16.

For the week, the NASDAQ slumped by 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 slid by 0.9 percent and the Dow edged down by 0.2 percent.

A positive reaction to the latest earnings news contributed to the rally on Wall Street, fueled by the likes of Citigroup (C) and UnitedHealth (UNH), which exceeded expectations.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales jumped more than expected last month. Also, the University of Michigan unexpectedly showed a modest improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment in July. And the Labor Department said U.S. import prices crept up much less than expected in June.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday, buoyed by reports that an increase in Saudi oil output is unlikely for now. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $1.81 or 1.9 percent at $97.59 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed nearly 7 percent in the week.