Win Streak May Continue For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, jumping more than 490 points or 3.1 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,910-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on easing concerns over the health of financial sectors. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index added 50.70 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 15,914.70 after trading between 15,845.99 and 15,921.97.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial shed 0.60 percent. while Mega Financial eased 0.15 percent, CTBC Financial sank 0.70 percent, Fubon Financial slipped 0.35 percent, First Financial was down 0.19 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose 0.19 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation and MediaTek both fell 0.38 percent, Hon Hai Precision jumped 1.93 percent, Largan Precision dipped 0.22 percent, Delta Electronics rallied 2.04 percent, Novatek Microelectronics advanced 0.81 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was up 0.26 percent, Taiwan Cement added 0.67 percent and Catcher Technology, Asia Cement and Formosa Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages shook off early weakness, improving as the day progressed to finish solidly in the green.

The Dow climbed 132.33 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 32,237.53, while the NASDAQ added 36.56 points or 0.31 percent to close at 11,823.96 and the S&P 500 rose 22.27 points or 0.56 percent to end at 3,970.99.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.7 percent and the S&P gained 1.4 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street came on renewed concerns about the health of the banking sector. U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche Bank (DB) moved sharply lower in early trading amid a spike by the German lender's credit default swaps, while Credit Suisse (CS) and UBS Group (UBS) also came under pressure.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders felt the banking concerns may have been overdone amid optimism the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its tightening cycle.

Crude oil prices fell on Friday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns that rising interest rates might hurt growth and result in a drop in energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.70 or 1 percent at $69.26 a barrel.