The Taiwan stock market has finished higher now in two straight sessions, climbing more than 80 points or 0.9 percent in the process. The Taiwan Stock Exchange finished just below the 8,810-point plateau, and now analysts are predicting further upside when the market opens on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to a rebound in the price of commodity stocks and generally good economic data out of the United States. Gold and oil stocks are expected to lead the way, while financials and steel companies also could provide support. The European and U.S. bourses finished firmly higher on Friday, and the Asian markets also are expected to track to the upside.
The TSE finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the technology, paper and plastic stocks were limited by softness from the food, textile and construction companies.
For the day, the index added 21.60 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 8,810.00 after trading between 8,803.59 and 8,860.03 on turnover of 96.30 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, AsusTek Computer surged 4.0 percent, while ASE jumped 3.66 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. eased 0.27 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is fairly upbeat as stocks moved mostly higher on Friday, with traders reacting positively to a mixed batch of economic data. The markets continued to recover from the sell-off earlier in the week, although trading activity was relatively subdued ahead of the holiday weekend. The strength in the markets was partly due to an upward move by resource stocks, which moved higher along with commodities prices.
On the economic front, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing continued increases in personal income and spending in the month of April. Personal income rose by 0.4 percent in April, matching the increases seen in each of the two previous months. Personal spending also rose by 0.4 percent in April following a 0.5 percent increase in March. However, when factoring in the recent increases in prices, disposable income was nearly unchanged and spending showed only a modest increase.
A separate report from Reuters and the University of Michigan showed a notable upward revision to their consumer sentiment index for May. The index was upwardly revised to a reading of 74.3 from the preliminary reading of 72.4.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a much steeper than expected drop in pending home sales in April, with unusual weather and economic softness adding to ongoing problems in the housing market. NAR said its pending home sales index plunged by 11.6 percent in April following a downwardly revised 3.5 percent increase in March. Economists had expected pending sales to edge down by 1 percent compared to the 5.1 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
In corporate news, shares of Marvell Technology (MRVL) surged up by 11.1 percent after the chip maker reported weaker than expected first quarter earnings but provided upbeat second quarter guidance. While Marvell reported first quarter earnings of $0.29 per share, a penny below analyst estimates, it forecast second quarter earnings of $0.37 per share on revenues of $870 million to $910 million compared to analyst estimates for earnings of $0.34 per share on revenues of $875.4 million.
The major averages all ended the day in positive territory but well off their best levels of the day. The Dow rose 38.82 points or 0.3 percent to 12,441.58, the NASDAQ climbed 13.94 points or 0.5 percent to 2,796.86 and the S&P 500 advanced 5.41 points or 0.4 percent to 1,331.10. While the major averages closed higher for the third straight day, they all moved lower for the week. The Dow posted a weekly loss of 0.6 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 both fell by 0.2 percent.
In economic news, Taiwan's leading index was up 0.3 percent on month in April, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said on Friday - the same rate of growth as in March. The annualized six-month rate of change also remained unchanged at 3.6 percent. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, index of producer's inventory for manufacturing, index of export orders, real monetary aggregates M1B, building permits and stock price index had negative cyclical movements from previous month. The coincident index climbed 0.6 percent on a monthly basis in April, following an increase of 0.7 percent in March. At the same time, the lagging index moved up 2.7 percent, up from 2.6 percent in March.
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