Taiwan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the four-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 800 points or 3.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 21,970-point plateau and it's expected to open higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on bargain hunting, especially among the oil and technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The TSE finished barely higher on Friday following gains from the plastics companies and mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index perked 6.37 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 21,968.05 after trading between 21,895.90 and 22,074.03.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial perked 0.15 percent, while Mega Financial was up 0.13 percent, First Financial shed 0.54 percent, Fubon Financial dropped 0.90 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.17 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company lost 0.62 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation spiked 2.75 percent, Hon Hai Precision climbed 1.19 percent, Largan Precision added 0.20 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 0.90 percent, MediaTek improved 0.72 percent, Delta Electronics stumbled 2.57 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dropped 0.92 percent, Formosa Plastics skyrocketed 7.25 percent, Nan Ya Plastics surged 4.19 percent, Asia Cement jumped 1.13 percent and CTBC Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened sharply higher on Friday and continued to accelerate as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 674.62 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 41,488.19, while the NASDAQ rallied 451.07 points or 2.61 percent to close at 17,754.09 and the S&P 500 jumped 117.42 points or 2.13 percent to end at 5,638.94.

For the week, the Dow plunged 3.1 percent, the NASDAQ tumbled 2.4 percent and the S&P 500 slumped 2.3 percent.

The rally on Wall Street saw traders pick up stocks at reduced levels after the steep drop on Thursday, which dragged the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 down to their lowest closing levels in six months - and also sending the S&P into correction territory.

In economic news, the University of Michigan noted a substantial deterioration in consumer sentiment and a surge by inflation expectations in the month of March.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday as worries about excess supply in the market eased after the U.S. government announced fresh sanctions on Iranian oil and shipping. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.63 or 1 percent at $67.18 a barrel.