Continued Strength Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 65 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 10,500-point plateau and it draws another positive lead for Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is firm thanks to solid economic and earnings news, plus a bump in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday as the financial shares and technology stocks were mostly in the green.

For the day, the index gained 24.84 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 10,506.10 after trading between 10,472.81 and 10,537.42 on turnover of 118.71 billion Taiwan dollars.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.71 percent, while Mega Financial gained 0.20 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.31 percent, Largan Precision advanced 2.39 percent, AU Optronics shed 0.79 percent, Innolux gained 0.32 percent, MediaTek surged 3.98 percent, Taiwan Cement picked up 0.70 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.23 percent and Hon Hai Precision was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as stocks moved mostly higher on Wednesday, allowing all three major averages to reach new record closing highs.

The Dow rose 66.02 points or 0.3 percent to 21,640.75, while the NASDAQ added 40.74 points or 0.6 percent to 6,385.04 and the S&P gained 13.22 points or 0.5 percent to 2,473.83.

In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a bigger than expected rebound in housing starts in June. It also said that building permits also jumped more than expected.

Upbeat earnings news also contributed, with financial giant Morgan Stanley (MS) posting a strong gain after reporting better than expected second quarter results.

Crude oil futures continued to rise Wednesday, surging above $47 after a surprisingly large drop in U.S. oil inventories. August crude oil rose 66 cents or 1.4 percent to $47.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest in six weeks.