Taiwan Shares Poised To Open In The Green

The Taiwan stock market on Thursday ended the five-day losing streak in which it had plunged more than 750 points or 4.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 17,000-point plateau and it’s likely to see additional support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, with optimism for economic recovery offset by the latest coronavirus surge in Japan and India. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index advanced 150.96 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 16,994.36 after trading between 16,764.71 and 17,088.73.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial climbed 1.49 percent, while Mega Financial advanced 0.94 percent, CTBC Financial spiked 2.22 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.14 percent, First Financial collected 0.68 percent, E Sun Financial gathered 1.14 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.34 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.97 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.27 percent, Largan Precision shed 0.66 percent, Catcher Technology tumbled 1.83 percent, MediaTek soared 4.98 percent, Formosa Plastic spiked 4.63 percent, Asia Cement accelerated 2.23 percent and Taiwan Cement surged 4.33 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as stocks shrugged off early weakness on Thursday to finish in the green.

The Dow jumped 318.19 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 34,548.53, while the NASDAQ gained 50.42 points or 0.37 percent to end at 13,632.84 and the S&P 500 climbed 34.03 points or 0.82 percent to close at 4,201.62.

The strength on Wall Street followed a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell much more than expected last week.

Later today, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for April.

Crude oil futures finished lower on Thursday, extending losses from previous session amid worries about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June were down $0.92 or 1.4 percent at $64.71 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release April figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to jump 24.0 percent in year after rising 27.0 percent in March. Exports are called higher by an annual 26.9 percent after gaining 27.1 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $3.12 billion, down from $3.66 billion a month earlier.

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