Taiwan Stock Market Due For Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in five straight sessions, advancing more than 750 points or 3.8 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 21,300-point plateau although investors figure to lock in gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation, largely on profit taking following recent gains. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index jumped 157.05 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 21,304.26 after trading between 21,249.88 and 21,515.52.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial fell 0.35 percent, while Mega Financial eased 0.12 percent, CTBC Financial strengthened 1.63 percent, First Financial collected 0.54 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.14 percent, E Sun Financial climbed 1.07 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 0.24 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation and Hon Hai Precision both added 0.59 percent, Largan Precision spiked 2.21 percent, Catcher Technology shed 0.43 percent, MediaTek accelerated 3.03 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.31 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rallied 2.07 percent, Formosa Plastics increased 0.44 percent, Nan Ya Plastics improved 1.06 percent, Asia Cement gathered 0.33 percent, Taiwan Cement advanced 0.90 percent and China Steel jumped 1.62 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up soft as the major averages spent most of Thursday in the green before a late wave of profit taking nudged them under water.

The Dow shed 38.62 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 39,869.38, while the NASDAQ sank 44.07 points or 0.26 percent to close at 16,698.32 and the S&P dipped 11.05 points or 0.21 percent to end at 5,297.10.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected an extension of the rally seen during Wednesday's session, which came amid optimism about the outlook for interest rates following tamer-than-expected consumer price inflation data.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, with traders pausing to lock in recent gains.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a pullback by initial jobless claims last week. Also, a separate Labor Department report showed U.S. import prices jumped more than expected in April, and industrial production came in flat last month.

Oil prices advanced on Thursday, continuing to benefit from recent data showing a larger than expected decline in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. Hopes of an interest rate cut in September contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.60 at $79.23 a barrel.