The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had surrendered nearly 600 points or 5.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 10,040-point plateau and it's expected to see another green light again on Monday.
The global forecast for the oversold Asian markets is positive, thanks to a jump in crude oil prices and with more bargain hunting expected. 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 sharply higher on Friday following gains from the technology stocks, cement companies and financial shares.
For the day, the index jumped 239.70 points or 2.44 percent to finish at 10,045.81 after trading between 9,740.76 and 10,046.01 on turnover of 143.54 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, Largan Precision surged 9.89 percent, while Catcher Technology soared 4.32 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spiked 4.18 percent, MediaTek gathered 4.51 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 2.57 percent, Taiwan Cement accelerated 3.72 percent, Asia Cement gained 2.23 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 2.91 percent, Taiwan Steel Union skidded 1.11 percent, China Steel climbed 1.24 percent, Cathay Financial collected 1.00 percent, Mega Financial jumped 1.89 percent, Fubon Financial picked up 0.91 percent, CTCB Financial advanced 2.60 percent and Chunghwa Telecom shed 0.46 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is firm as stocks fluctuated on Friday but finished the session with solid gains.
The Dow climbed 287.16 points or 1.15 percent to 25,339.99, while the NASDAQ spiked 167.83 points or 2.29 percent and the S&P jumped 38.76 points or 1.42 percent to 2,767.13. For the week, the Dow shed 4.2 percent, the NASDAQ dropped 3.7 percent and the S&P skidded 4.1 percent.
Bargain hunting contributed to the higher close on Wall Street, with the major averages bouncing off the multi-month closing lows set on Thursday.
In economic news, the Labor Department reported a bigger than expected increase in U.S. import prices in September, while export prices were unchanged. Also, the University of Michigan showed a drop in consumer sentiment in October.
Crude oil prices moved higher Friday, recovering from recent losses on easing concerns about economic and demand slowdown. Crude oil futures for November ended up $0.37, or 0.5 percent, at $71.34 a barrel. For the week, crude oil futures tumbled 4 percent after gains in four consecutive weeks.
by RTTNews Staff Writer
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