Continued Support Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

The Taiwan stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 350 points or 2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,400-point plateau and it’s looking at another green light for Friday’s trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on renewed optimism for economic recovery. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the technology stocks.

For the day, the index advanced 71.25 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 17,407.96 after trading between 17,319.89 and 17,439.63.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial lost 0.55 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.46 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.14 percent, First Financial eased 0.22 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dropped 0.84 percent, Hon Hai Precision climbed 1.35 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.00 percent, Catcher Technology shed 0.55 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.28 percent, Delta Electronics tanked 2.03 percent, Formosa Plastic sank 0.48 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.40 percent, Taiwan Cement was up 0.20 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation and CTBC Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as stocks opened solidly higher on Friday and remained comfortably in the green throughout the session.

The Dow spiked 322.58 points or 0.95 percent to finish at 34,196.82, while the NASDAQ jumped 97.98 points or 0.69 percent to end at 14,369.71 and the S&P 500 gained 24.65 points or 0.58 percent to close at 4,266.49.

The strength on Wall Street reflected a resumption of the upward momentum seen earlier in the week, which helped lift the Dow well off its lowest levels in over two months.

Positive sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

News that President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of Senators have reached an agreement on a new infrastructure plan may also have helped support the markets.

Crude oil futures settled slightly higher Thursday, continuing to benefit from data that showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended up $0.22 or 0.3 percent at $73.30 per barrel.