Soft Start Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, advancing almost 400 points or 2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,300-point plateau although it's expected to open under pressure on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a lack of catalysts, while concerns over the outlook for interest rates continue to persist. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index gained 87.87 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 20,301.20 after trading between 20,057.81 and 20,363.09.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial improved 1.15 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.51 percent, CTBC Financial gained 0.63 percent, Fubon Financial added 0.45 percent, E Sun Financial jumped 1.89 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dipped 0.20 percent, Hon Hai Precision climbed 1.02 percent, Catcher Technology strengthened 1.22 percent, Delta Electronics rallied 2.83 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dropped 0.97 percent, Formosa Plastics rose 0.44 percent, Nan Ya Plastics spiked 1.45 percent, Asia Cement accelerated 1.69 percent, Taiwan Cement perked 0.15 percent, China Steel advanced 1.43 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, MediaTek, Largan Precision and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains weak as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, finished mixed with a downside bias.

The Dow rose 22.07 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 37,775.38, while the NASDAQ slumped 81.87 points or 0.52 percent to close at 15,601.50 and the S&P 500 sank 11.09 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,011.12.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. However, buying interest waned over the course of the session amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to interest rate worries, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a report showing a considerable acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in April.

Also, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a sharp pullback by existing home sales in the U.S. last month.

Oil futures settled roughly flat on Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and on recent data showing a jump in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $82.73 a barrel, up $0.04 from the previous close.