Taiwan Stock Market May See Additional Support On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 100 points or 0.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchanged now rests beneath the 22,270-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets finished slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index collected 66.24 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 22,268.09 after trading between 22,230.07 and 22,342.25.

Among the actives, Mega Financial perked 0.13 percent, while First Financial collected 0.74 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.17 percent, E Sun Financial advanced 0.89 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was up 0.11 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation strengthened 1.65 percent, Largan Precision tanked 2.50 percent, Catcher Technology shed 0.42 percent, MediaTek sank 0.80 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 2.00 percent, Formosa Plastics increased 0.19 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.66 percent, Asia Cement added 0.45 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial and Hon Hai Precision were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday, faded midday but rallied going into the close.

The Dow climbed 228.03 points or 0.55 percent to finish at a fresh record 41,563.08, while the NASDAQ spiked 197.20 points or 1.13 percent to end at 17,713.62 and the S&P 500 gained 56.44 points or 1.01 percent to close at 5,648.40. For the week, the NASDAQ shed 0.9 percent, the Dow added 0.9 percent and the S&P rose 0.2 percent.

The higher close on Wall Street followed the Commerce Department report on U.S. consumer price inflation that is said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve. The report showed consumer prices increased in line with estimates in July, while the annual rate of price growth was unexpectedly flat.

While the data has reinforced expectations of an interest rate cut by the Fed this month, traders expressed uncertainty about the pace of rate cuts, leading to some volatility in the markets.

According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, there is a 69.5 percent chance of a quarter-point rate cut next month and a 30.5 percent chance of a half-point rate cut.

Crude oil showed a significant move to the downside on Friday on reports that OPEC is set to proceed with a planned oil output hike from October. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery plunged $2.36 or 3.1 percent to $73.55 a barrel.