Taiwan Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 210 points or 1.1 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 19,940-point plateau although it's tipped to open in the red on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the financials, plastics and cement companies, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index rose 9.41 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 19,937.92 after trading between 19,775.50 and 19,995.51.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial soared 3.21 percent, while Mega Financial increased 1.24 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.47 percent, First Financial accelerated 1.47 percent, Fubon Financial was up 1.14 percent, E Sun Financial rallied 1.36 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.64 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation sank 0.75 percent, Hon Hai Precision rose 0.41 percent, Largan Precision improved 0.80 percent, Catcher Technology perked 0.24 percent, MediaTek plummeted 5.35 percent, Delta Electronics retreated 1.27 percent, Novatek Microelectronics declined 1.37 percent, Formosa Plastics strengthened 1.32 percent, Nan Ya Plastics jumped 1.44 percent, Asia Cement spiked 1.98 percent, Taiwan Cement advanced 0.95 percent and China Steel gained 0.42 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly headed south and stayed modestly lower for the rest of the day.

The Dow dropped 137.66 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 28,905.66, while the NASDAQ sank 49.24 points or 0.30 percent to close at 16,128.53 and the S&P 500 fell 14.83 points or 0.29 percent to end at 5,150.48.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the Federal Reserve further postponing its first interest rate cut following the release of hotter-than-expected producer price inflation data for February.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales rebounded in February, although the increase fell short of estimates.

Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday, extending gains from the previous day as the International Energy Agency (IEA) upwardly raised its global demand growth forecast. West Texas International Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $1.54 or 1.9 percent at $81.26 a barrel.