Taiwan Stock Market Has Positive Lead For Monday's Trade

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 110 points or 0.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,380-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for inflation. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion on Monday.

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

For the day, the index improved 105.29 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 17,383.99 after trading between 17,309.36 and 17,465.35.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial fell 0.33 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.64 percent, CTBC Financial surged 2.42 percent, First Financial rallied 0.55 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.39 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company improved 0.71 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation perked 0.21 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.50 percent, Largan Precision dropped 0.87 percent, Catcher Technology increased 0.54 percent, MediaTek strengthened 1.29 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.48 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dipped 0.20 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.13 percent, Nan Ya Plastics sank 0.73 percent, Asia Cement gathered 0.48 percent, Taiwan Cement perked 0.29 percent, China Steel rallied 0.19 percent and Fubon Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages overcame early choppiness on Friday, moving solidly higher in afternoon trade to finish in the green.

The Dow rallied 130.47 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 36,247.87, while the NASDAQ gained 63.97 points or 0.45 percent to close at 14,403.97 and the S&P 500 added 18.78 points or 0.41 percent to end at 4,604.37. For the week, the Dow inched marginally higher, the S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent and the NASDAQ added 0.7 percent.

The early volatility on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Labor Department report showing stronger than expected job growth in November.

The data raised concerns that strength in the labor market could lead the Federal Reserve to delay cutting interest rates, with investors hoping the central bank would pivot to rate cuts as early as March 2024.

But buying interest was generated in reaction to a University of Michigan report showing a pullback in consumers' inflation expectations in December.

Oil spiked sharply on Friday after Saudi Arabia and Russia urged the members of OPEC to join an output cut agreement. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $1.89 or 2.7 percent at $71.23 a barrel, snapping a six-day losing streak.