Taiwan Stock Market Tipped To See Renewed Support

The Taiwan stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had spiked more than 630 points or 4.1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 15,700-point plateau although it’s predicted to rebound on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to rising crude oil prices and solid economic data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were firmly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the technology stocks and cement companies, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index fell 65.10 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 15,706.22 after trading between 15,606.74 and 15,801.37.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial advanced 0.99 percent, while CTBC Financial slid 0.26 percent, Fubon Financial skidded 1.05 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.21 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.48 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation eased 0.19 percent, Hon Hai Precision tanked 2.15 percent, Largan Precision dropped 0.97 percent, Catcher Technology tumbled 1.79 percent, MediaTek lost 0.42 percent, Asia Cement retreated 0.85 percent, Taiwan Cement sank 0.37 percent and Formosa Plastic, Mega Financial and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks opened higher on Thursday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow jumped 332.26 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 31,055.86, while the NASDAQ climbed 167.20 points or 1.23 percent to end at 13,777.74 and the S&P 500 gained 41.57 points or 1.09 percent to close at 3,871.74.

Easing concerns about speculative trading have helped drive the markets higher along with mostly upbeat earnings news from big-name companies.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing a continued decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Traders have recently taken an optimistic view toward most economic data, seeing upbeat data as a positive for the economy while seeing disappointing data as putting pressure on lawmakers to pass more stimulus.

Crude oil futures were up Thursday for the fourth straight session on continued optimism that crude oil supplies will drop thanks to OPEC’s move to reduce output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.54 or 1 percent at $56.23 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide January figures for consumer and wholesale prices later today. In December, overall inflation was up 0.17 percent on month and 0.06 percent on year, while wholesale prices tumbled 5.1 percent on year.