Taiwan Stock Market May Add To Its Winnings On Friday

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Thursday's Labor Day holiday, the Taiwan stock market had finished higher in four straight trading days, gathering more than 750 points or 3.7 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,230-point plateau and it's tipped to open to the upside again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from the oil and technology companies in particular. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished barely higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, weakness from the plastics and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index perked 2.40 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 20,235.03 after trading between 20,185.31 and 20,331.89.

Among the actives, Mega Financial collected 0.67 percent, while CTBC Financial improved 0.77 percent, First Financial advanced 0.79 percent, E Sun Financial and Largan Precision both jumped 1.80 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.67 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation gained 0.56 percent, Hon Hai Precision skidded 1.05 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.46 percent, Delta Electronics tumbled 1.91 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rallied 2.17 percent, Formosa Plastics declined 1.56 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 1.13 percent, Asia Cement rose 0.22 percent and Cathay Financial, Fubon Financial and Catcher Technology were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session, although they came well off the day's highs.

The Dow improved 83.60 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 40,752.96, while the NASDAQ rallied 264.40 points or 1.52 percent to close at 17,710.74 and the S&P 500 added 35.08 points or 0.63 percent to end at 5,604.14.

The early rally on Wall Street came in reaction to upbeat earnings news from software giant Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META), both of which exceeded expectations.

Buying interest waned as the day progressed, however, as traders digested some disappointing economic data, including a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for jobless benefits rose much more than expected last week.

Crude oil saw considerable volatility Thursday but moved sharply higher after President Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions on any country that purchases Iranian oil. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery jumped $1.03 or 1.8 percent to $59.24 a barrel.