Tech Shares May Boost Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, collecting almost 80 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 16,350-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat on ongoing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and cement companies.

For the day, the index gained 43.34 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 16,353.74 after trading between 16,311.41 and 16,411.28.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.11 percent, while CTBC Financial and E Sun Financial both collected 0.41 percent, First Financial perked 0.19 percent, Fubon Financial was up 0.17 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 0.19 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 1.80 percent, Largan Precision rallied 1.43 percent, Catcher Technology gained 0.55 percent, MediaTek fell 0.27 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.46 percent, Novatek Microelectronics retreated 1.51 percent, Asia Cement dipped 0.13 percent, Taiwan Cement improved 0.61 percent, China Steel sank 0.79 percent and Hon Hai Precision, Mega Financial, Formosa Plastics and Nan Ya Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Friday but faded into the red as the day progressed, although the NASDAQ managed to peek back up into the green by the close.

The Dow shed 158.80 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 33,507.50, while the NASDAQ rose 18.02 points or 0.14 percent to close at 13,219.32 and the S&P 500 fell 11.65 points or 0.27 percent to end at 4,288.05.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came on concerns over the prospect of a government shutdown, although that was avoided at the last minute.

The outlook for interest rates also rendered the mood cautious, prompting investors to lighten commitments.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said personal income in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in August. Also, core CPI slowed in August and overall inflation ticked slightly higher - both in line with forecasts.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Friday, with a bit of profit taking and uncertainty about the outlook for energy demand weighing on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $0.92 or 1 percent at $90.79 a barrel. WTI crude futures added 0.8 percent in the week and 8.5 percent in September.