Taiwan Stock Market May Extend Winning Streak

The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting almost 200 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,430-point plateau and it may see mild upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mostly positive, although technology companies may fall under pressure. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets also figure to move into the green.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financials, weakness from the technology and plastic stocks and a mixed bag from the cement companies.

For the day, the index advanced 63.29 points or 0.36 percent to finish at the daily high of 17,433.85 after trading as low as 17,313.30.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rallied 1.64 percent, while Mega Financial advanced 0.89 percent, CTBC Financial jumped 1.86 percent, First Financial collected 0.73 percent, Fubon Financial improved 1.10 percent, E Sun Financial perked 0.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.52 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.61 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.49 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.21 percent, Catcher Technology skidded 1.02 percent, MediaTek fell 0.32 percent, Delta Electronics eased 0.16 percent, Novatek Microelectronics slid 0.20 percent, Formosa Plastics dropped 0.74 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 0.44 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.71 percent, Taiwan Cement spiked 2.04 percent and China Steel was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, with the Dow remaining solidly in the green throughout the session. The NASDAQ quickly turned lower and stayed in the red, while the S&P also fell into negative territory but staged a late rally into positive territory.

The Dow surged 520.47 points or 1.47 percent to finish at 35,950.89, while the NASDAQ slumped 32.27 points or 0.23 percent to close at 14,226.22 and the S&P 500 added 17.22 points or 0.38 percent to end at 4,567.80.

The surge by the Dow was due in large part to a spike by shares of Salesforce (CRM), with the cloud software company soaring by 9.4 percent after it reported better than expected fiscal third quarter earnings and provided upbeat guidance.

Meanwhile, the decrease by the NASDAQ came amid a rebound by treasury yields, as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note bounced off its lowest levels in over two months.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported that consumer price growth in the U.S. slowed in line with estimates in October.

Oil prices tumbled on Thursday despite an announcement from OPEC that members have agreed to voluntarily output cuts for the first quarter of 2024. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended lower by $1.90 or 2.4 percent at $75.96 a barrel.