Taiwan Shares May Add To Their Winnings On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in four straight sessions, advancing more than 750 points or 3.8 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 19,700-point plateau and it's likely to open higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on growing optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Thursday as the financial shares and technology stocks ended mostly in the green.

For the day, the index advanced 194.07 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 19,693.52 after trading between 19,630.79 and 19,794.57.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.67 percent, while Mega Financial dipped 0.25 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.02 percent, First Financial fell 0.37 percent, Fubon Financial strengthened 1.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company soared 3.40 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation accelerated 2.03 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.94 percent, Largan Precision sank 0.78 percent, Catcher Technology slid 0.25 percent, MediaTek surged 3.36 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.68 percent, Novatek Microelectronics gained 0.67 percent, Formosa Plastics dropped 0.99 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rose 0.36 percent, Asia Cement improved 0.87 percent, China Steel slumped 0.42 percent and E Sun Financial and Taiwan Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained solidly in the green throughout the session, with the S&P and NASDAQ hitting fresh closing highs.

The Dow climbed130.30 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 38,791.35, while the NASDAQ surged 2.41.83 points or 1.51 percent to end at 16,273.38 and the S&P 500 rallied 52.60 points or 1.03 percent to close at 5,157.36.

The extended rebound on Wall Street came on optimism about the outlook for interest rates after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress on Thursday that rate cuts "can and will" begin this year.

Adding to the optimism about interest rates, the European Central Bank lowered its annual inflation forecast while announcing its widely expected decision to leave rates unchanged.

Potentially adding to the buying interest on Wall Street, treasury yields saw further downside on the day, with the ten-year yield falling to its lowest closing level in a month.

Oil prices drifted lower on Thursday amid some concerns about the outlook for demand, although the downside was limited by a weaker greenback. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April fell $0.20 or 0.3 percent at $78.93 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide February figures for imports, export and trade balance later today. In January, imports were up 19.0 percent on year and exports rose an annual 18.1 percent for a trade surplus of $2.49 billion.