Mild Upside Seen For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market rebounded again on Friday, one session after halting the two-day winning streak in which it had added more than 100 points or 0.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 16,130-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on weak earnings and slightly higher inflation. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial and cement sectors, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 60.91 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 16,134.61 after trading between 16,112.75 and 16,200.30.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.80 percent, while Mega Financial strengthened 1.51 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.03 percent, First Financial and Novatek Microelectronics both increased 0.58 percent, Fubon Financial rallied 1.17 percent, E Sun Financial advanced 0.84 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.38 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.43 percent, Hon Hai Precision fell 0.30 percent, Largan Precision improved 0.75 percent, Catcher Technology gained 0.55 percent, MediaTek tumbled 1.96 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.01 percent, Formosa Plastics rose 0.13 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.48 percent, Asia Cement was up 0.77 percent, Taiwan Cement gathered 1.27 percent and China Steel slipped 0.21 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Friday and finished the same way.

The Dow tumbled 366.71 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 32,417.59, while the NASDAQ added 47.41 points or 0.38 percent to close at 12,643.01 and the S&P 500 sank 19.86 points or 0.48 percent to end at 4,117.37.

For the week, the Dow dropped 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 slumped 2.5 percent and the NASDAQ stumbled 2.6 percent.

The rebound by the NASDAQ reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Amazon (AMZN) and semiconductor giant Intel (INTC), which beat estimates - while disappointing earnings from Chevron (CVX) weighed heavily on the Dow.

Traders were also digesting a Commerce Department report showing that consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent in September, matching the increase in August. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday as tensions in the Middle East escalated with Israeli ground forces expanding operations in Gaza. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December rose $2.33 or 2.8 percent at $85.54 a barrel. WTI crude futures posted a weekly loss of 3.6 percent.