Taiwan Stock Market Has Firm Lead

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, accelerating more than 630 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 23,150-point plateau and it's expected to open higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were solidly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the plastic and cement sectors, while the financials and technology stocks came in mixed.

For the day, the index rallied 122.98 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 23,148.08 after trading between 22,905.53 and 23,209.88.

Among the actives, Mega Financial sank 0.77 percent, while CTBC Financial perked 0.16 percent, First Financial shed 0.72 percent, E Sun Financial lost 0.54 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company strengthened 1.36 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.84 percent, Largan Precision skidded 1.09 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.50 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.05 percent, Delta Electronics improved 0.84 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rose 0.20 percent, Formosa Plastics surged 5.08 percent, Nan Ya Plastics soared 4.60 percent, Asia Cement rallied 1.22 percent and Cathay Financial, Fubon Financial and Hon Hai Precision were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly upbeat as the major averages opened solidly higher on Friday and stayed that way throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 334.73 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 43,487.83, while the NASDAQ rallied 291.90 points or 1.51 percent to close at 19.630.20 and the S&P 500 advanced 59.30 points or 1.00 percent to end at 5,996.66.

For the week, the Dow soared 3.7 percent, the S&P jumped 2.9 percent and the NASDAQ climbed 2.5 percent.

Stocks benefitted from the recent decrease by treasury yields even as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note recovered from an early slump to end the day roughly flat. The recent retreat by treasury yields came as the U.S. inflation data released over the past few days led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to the interest rate optimism, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC the central bank could lower interest rates multiple times this year if inflation eases as he is expecting.

Crude oil prices showed a notable move to the downside on Friday, extending the sharp pullback seen in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate for February delivery was down $0.80 or 1 percent to $77.88 a barrel on Friday; for the week, crude rose about 1 percent.