Taiwan Shares Due For Profit Taking On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 900 points or 4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 23,400-point plateau although the rally may stall on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with profit taking among the technology stocks likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index jumped 196.56 points or 0.85 percent to finish at the daily high of 23,406.10 after moving as low as 23,180.70.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial jumped 1.86 percent, while Mega Financial perked 0.13 percent, CTBC Financial and Fubon Financial both rose 0.26 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.17 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation strengthened 1.23 percent, Hon Hai Precision skyrocketed 7.14 percent, Largan Precision added 0.57 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 0.87 percent, MediaTek climbed 1.01 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.68 percent, Novatek Microelectronics retreated 1.59 percent, Formosa Plastics increased 0.83 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rallied 1.80 percent, Asia Cement surged 2.67 percent, Taiwan Cement perked 0.29 percent, China Steel improved 0.85 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher, but the NASDAQ and S&P 500 turned lower and finished that way - while the Dow ended in the green.

The Dow rallied 299.90 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 39,134.76, while the NASDAQ stumbled 140.64 points or 0.79 percent to close at 17,721.59 and the S&P sank 13.86 points or 0.25 percent to end at 5,473.17.

While the early strength on Wall Street came amid a continued advanced by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), the subsequent downturn by the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 was also led by a significant pullback by the AI darling and market leader.

The downturn by the NASDAQ and the S&P may also have reflected profit taking after the indexes reached new record intraday highs, with the S&P 500 turning lower after climbing above 5,500 for the first time.

In economic news, the Labor Department reported a modest pullback by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Commerce Department noted a steep drop in new U.S. residential construction in May.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday after data showed crude inventories in the U.S. fell slightly more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $0.60 at $82.17 a barrel.