Taiwan Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in six straight sessions, gathering almost 210 points or 1.2 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,670-point plateau although it may see profit taking on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed amid a lack of catalysts, with optimism over the outlook for interest rates preventing any heavy selling. The European and U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The TSE finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the technology stocks were offset by weakness from the financials and plastics.

For the day, the index rose 20.77 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 17,673.87 after trading between 17,642.79 and 17,743.54.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.11 percent, while Mega Financial lost 0.51 percent, CTBC Financial slumped 1.05 percent, First Financial dropped 0.91 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.15 percent, E Sun Financial and Novatek Microelectronics both dipped 0.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.52 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation gained 0.60 percent, Hon Hai Precision shed 0.49 percent, Largan Precision sank 0.74 percent, Catcher Technology skidded 1.07 percent, MediaTek soared 3.11 percent, Delta Electronics spiked 2.45 percent, Formosa Plastics slipped 0.13 percent, Nan Ya Plastics declined 0.88 percent, Asia Cement was down 0.12 percent, Taiwan Cement slid 0.29 percent and China Steel surged 4.13 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Friday and finished the same way, little changed.

The Dow added 56.76 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 37,305.16, while the NASDAQ gained 52.32 points or 0.35 percent to close at 14,813.92 and the S&P 500 eased 0.36 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,719.19.

The major averages all closed higher for the seventh consecutive week. The Dow and the NASDAQ both surged by 2.9 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped by 2.5 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a breather following the recent upward move by the markets, although optimism about the outlook for interest rates continued to support the markets.

On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve released a report showing a modest rebound in U.S. industrial production in November.

Oil futures posted their first weekly gain in two months despite settling on a slightly weak note on Friday. An upward revision in oil demand forecast by the International Energy Agency and a weak dollar pushed up crude oil prices over the past few sessions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January eased $0.15 at $71.43 a barrel on Friday but added 0.2% for the week.