The Taiwan stock market has finished higher now in six straight sessions, spiking more than 400 points or 5.5 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange ended just below the 7,740-point plateau, and now traders may be tempted to lock in gains when the market kicks off trade on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild support following positive economic news out of the United States, although the upside may be limited by profit taking following solid gains in the previous session. The markets may continue to benefit from the Federal Reserve's announcement Thursday of additional quantitative easing. Also adding support were better than expected figures on retail sales and consumer sentiment. The European and U.S. markets were higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The TSE finished sharply higher again on Friday following gains from the technology, cement, plastic, finance, food, textile, construction and paper sectors.
For the day, the index surged 159.25 points or 2.10 percent to finish at the daily high of 7,738.05 after trading as low as 7,660.38 on turnover of 133.50 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the gainers, HTC and Yuanta Financial Holding both spiked by the 7 percent daily limit, while Cathay Financial Holding soared 6.75 percent and Hon Hai Precision Industry climbed 4.30 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as stocks were up again on Friday after moving sharply higher over the course of the previous session. The support followed Thursday's announcement from the Federal Reserve of its decision to provide further economic stimulus by purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month.
Looking ahead, the Fed said it would continue its purchases of mortgage-backed securities until the outlook for the labor market improves substantially. The central bank also left interest rates at near-zero levels and said exceptionally low rates are likely to be warranted at least through mid-2015.
Traders were also presented with a slew of U.S. economic data, including a report from the Commerce Department showing slightly stronger than expected retail sales growth amid a jump in gas prices. Retail sales rose 0.9 percent in August following a downwardly revised 0.6 percent increase in July. Economists had expected the sales growth to match the 0.8 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
A separate report from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment has unexpectedly climbed in September. The consumer sentiment index jumped to 79.2 from the final August reading of 74.3. Economists had expected the index to edge down to a reading of 73.5.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve reported a steeper than expected drop in industrial production in August, with Hurricane Isaac restraining output in the Gulf Coast region. Industrial production tumbled 1.2 percent in August following a downwardly revised 0.5 percent increase in July. Economists had expected a 0.1 percent decline.
The major U.S. averages were up on Friday, although off their best levels of the session. The Dow rose 53.51 points or 0.4 percent to finish at 13,593.37, while the NASDAQ jumped 28.12 points or 0.9 percent to end at 3,183.95 and the S&P 500 climbed 5.78 points or 0.4 percent to close at 1,465.77. With the gains, the major averages moved sharply higher for the week, reaching new multi-year highs. The Dow rose by 2.2 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 advanced by 1.5 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.
by RTT Staff Writer
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