Taiwan Bourse May See Profit Taking On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, accelerating more than 440 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 20,230-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with strength from technology stocks offset by weakness from oil companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are likely on the same path.

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

For the day, the index added 29.34 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 20,228.43 after trading between 20,084.31 and 20,296.10.

Among the actives, Mega Financial stumbled 1.23 percent, while CTBC Financial eased 0.16 percent, First Financial collected 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 1.56 percent, E Sun Financial jumped 1.31 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 0.13 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 1.69 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.11 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.61 percent, Catcher Technology plummeted 4.46 percent, MediaTek declined 1.32 percent, Delta Electronics surged 5.92 percent, Novatek Microelectronics fell 0.34 percent, Formosa Plastics shed 0.59 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slid 0.36 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.47 percent, Taiwan Cement was down 0.31 percent, China Steel added 0.42 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened flat on Friday but quickly diverged, with the Dow and S&P 500 ending under water and the NASDAQ closing slightly in the green.

The Dow tumbled 305.50 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 39,475.90, while the NASDAQ added 27.02 points or 0.16 percent to close at 16,428.82 and the S&P 500 fell 7.35 points or 0.14 percent to end at 5,234.18. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 2.9 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.3 percent and the Dow jumped 2.0 percent.

Profit taking contributed to modest weakness in early trading, with some traders looking to cash in on the recent strength in the markets. Selling pressure was relatively subdued, however, as traders remained optimistic about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last week.

While the timing of the first rate remains somewhat uncertain the chances of a quarter point rate cut in June have rebounded to 66.5 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Nvidia (NVDA) paced the tech-heavy NASDAQ, with the chipmaker surging by 3.1 percent. The AI darling, which has recently been a key driver of trading on Wall Street, ended the day at a record closing high.

Oil prices fell on Friday, as the dollar rose sharply with the Federal Reserve set to hold interest rates higher for now. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.44 at $80.63 a barrel.