Taiwan Shares Expected To Extend Their Gains

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 375 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 16,800-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to encouraging economic data. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial, technology, cement and plastics companies.

For the day, the index rallied 226.05 points or 1.36 percent to finish at the daily high of 16,807.56 after moving as low as 16,581.62.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.32 percent, while Mega Financial accelerated 2.46 percent, CTBC Financial improved 1.21 percent, First Financial strengthened 1.31 percent, Fubon Financial advanced 0.80 percent, E Sun Financial collected 2.06 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.23 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.53 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.47 percent, Largan Precision spiked 2.73 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.11 percent, MediaTek perked 0.14 percent, Delta Electronics jumped 1.96 percent, Novatek Microelectronics soared 2.51 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.73 percent, Nan Ya Plastics accelerated 1.32 percent, Asia Cement increased 0.63 percent, Taiwan Cement gathered 0.57 percent and China Steel surged 0.95 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened solidly higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow surged 331.58 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 34,907.11, while the NASDAQ spiked 112.47 points or 0.81 percent to end at 13,926.05 and the S&P 500 improved 37.66 points or 0.84 percent to close at 4,505.10.

The strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to a slew of U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of August.

Also, the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in month of August. However, the data does not raise concerns about inflation, as the increase in prices was largely due to a spike in energy prices.

Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday as concerns over the outlook for crude supplies outweighed worries about energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.64 or 1.9 percent at $90.16 a barrel, the highest settlement in almost 10 months.