Taiwan Stock Market May Add To Its Winnings On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market rebounded on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 150 points or 0.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 18,850-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with technology and energy stocks expected to lead the markets higher. 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 as gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and cement companies were limited by weakness from the plastic sector.

For the day, the index rallied 176.48 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 18,852.78 after trading between 18,758.15 and 18,881.77.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial gained 0.34 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.52 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.21 percent, First Financial perked 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.30 percent, E Sun Financial lost 0.61 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 1.62 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.21 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.49 percent, Largan Precision jumped 1.81 percent, Catcher Technology improved 0.75 percent, MediaTek soared 3.47 percent, Delta Electronics advanced 0.86 percent, Novatek Microelectronics spiked 2.64 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.41 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dropped 0.82 percent, Asia Cement gathered 0.25 percent, Taiwan Cement was up 0.15 percent and China Steel fell 0.40 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened higher and continued to climb as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 456.87 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 39,069.11, while the NASDAQ soared 460.72 points or 2.96 percent to end at 16,041.62 and the S&P 500 rallied 105.23 points or 2.11 percent to close at 5,087.03.

The rally on Wall Street largely reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), with the chipmaker spiking by 16.4 percent to a record closing high.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department reported an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors noted a big rebound in existing home sales in January.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday as rising tensions in the Middle East raised the possibility of a near-term supply disruption. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April added $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $78.61 a barrel.