Additional Support Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had slipped more than 70 points or 0.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange new sits just above the 14,820-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian market is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the cement stocks and mixed performances from the financials and technology shares.

For the day, the index gained 92.53 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 14,824.13 after trading between 14,822.15 and 14,962.31.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.24 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.64 percent, CTBC Financial shed 0.44 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.34 percent, E Sun Financial improved 0.83 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spiked 2.77 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.55 percent, Largan Precision plummeted 7.18 percent, Catcher Technology strengthened 1.44 percent, MediaTek plunged 2.94 percent, Delta Electronics was up 0.18 percent, Novatek Microelectronics gained 0.44 percent, Formosa Plastics improved 0.57 percent, Asia Cement increased 0.48 percent, Taiwan Cement rallied 2.12 percent and Hon Hai Precision, First Financial, Nan Ya Plastics and China Steel were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages shook off early weakness on Friday, climbing into the green for good by the afternoon.

The Dow gained 112.61 points of 0.33 percent to finish at 34,302.61, while the NASDAQ jumped 78.06 points or 0.71 percent to end at 11,079.16 and the S&P 500 rose 15.92 points or 0.40 percent to close at 3,999.09.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 4.8 percent, the S&P gained 2.7 percent and the Dow rose 2.0 percent.

The initial weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on some the recent strength in the markets amid a negative reaction to earnings news from several big-name financial companies.

The recovery came as upbeat consumer sentiment and inflation expectations data helped offset the early negative sentiment.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday on optimism for less aggressive rate hikes in the United States after inflation slowed in December. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February ended higher by $1.47 or 1.9 percent at $79.86 a barrel.