Win Streak May Continue For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing almost 175 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just shy of the 14,375-point plateau, and it's predicted to see additional support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the plastics and technology stocks, while the financials and cement companies were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 72.34 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 14,373.34 after trading between 14,278.52 and 14,384.92.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 1.24 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.48 percent, E Sun Financial dipped 0.21 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 2.79 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.41 percent, Largan Precision spiked 3.81 percent, MediaTek surged 4.60 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 2.33 percent, Novatek Microelectronics soared 3.83 percent, Formosa Plastics improved 0.57 percent, Nan Ya Plastics advanced 0.97 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.61 percent, Taiwan Cement lost 0.58 percent, China Steel was up 0.50 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Catcher Technology, CTBC Financial, Fubon Financial and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but only accelerated as the day continued, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 700.51 points or 2.13 percent to finish at 33,630.61, while the NASDAQ soared 264.09 points or 2.56 percent to end at 10,569.29 and the S&P 500 jumped 86.98 points or 2.28 percent to close at 3,895.08.

Stocks rallied as investors hoped that the report from the Institute for Supply Management showing U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly contracted in December will convince the Federal Reserve to slow its aggressive pace on interest rate hikes.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the Labor Department reported that employment increased more than expected in December, while the jobless rate fell to a 50-year low.

Crude oil prices settled flat on Friday as fears of a global recession raised concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $73.77 a barrel, up just 10 cents from the previous close.