Consolidation Predicted For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, gathering more than 770 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 23,550-point plateau although it's due for profit taking on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed as countries weigh the results of the U.S. elections. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index gained 145.07 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 23,553.89 after trading between 23,509.13 and 23,699.70.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial shed 0.43 percent, while Fubon Financial collected 0.76 percent, E Sun Financial perked 0.18 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.35 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skidded 1.06 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.46 percent, Largan Precision slumped 1.28 percent, Catcher Technology stumbled 2.05 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.92 percent, Delta Electronics rose 0.25 percent, Novatek Microelectronics declined 1.31 percent, Formosa Plastics surrendered 2.15 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dropped 1.04 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.32 percent and Mega Financial, CTBC Financial and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and all finished with modest gains to fresh record closing highs.

The Dow jumped 259.65 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 43,988.99, while the NASDAQ rose 17.32 points or 0.09 percent to close at 19,286.78 and the S&P 500 added 22.44 points or 0.38 percent to end at 5,995.54.

For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ soared 5.7 percent, while the S&P 500 spiked 4.7 percent and the Dow rallied 4.6 percent.

Stocks continued to benefit from a positive reaction to former President Donald Trump's decisive victory in the U.S. presidential election, which is expected to be positive for corporations.

Traders also continued to digest the Federal Reserve's widely expected decision on Thursday to lower interest rates by a quarter-point. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed that rates are not on any preset course and the central bank will make future decisions meeting by meeting.

Oil prices fell sharply Friday on concerns about the outlook for demand due to data showing a drop in China's oil imports, and disappointment over the size of China's fresh stimulus measures. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.98 or 2.7 percent at $70.38 a barrel; the contract gained 1 percent in the week.