(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in five straight sessions, skyrocketing more than 2,950 points or 8 percent in that span. Now at a fresh record closing high, the Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 34,700-point plateau although investors are likely to lock in gains on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with technology shares likely to lead the markets higher. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The TSE finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology, plastic and cement companies, while the financial shares were soft.
For the day, the index surged 927.56 points or 2.75 percent to finish at 34,700.82 after trading between 33,987.51 and 34,786.42.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.17 percent, while Mega Financial fell 0.37 percent, CTBC Financial eased 0.16 percent, First Financial collected 0.33 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.43 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 3.42 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation soared 5.63 percent, Hon Hai Precision vaulted 4.46 percent, Largan Precision jumped 2.53 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.26 percent, MediaTek strengthened 1.67 percent, Delta Electronics surged 6.13 percent, Novatek Microelectronics expanded 1.85 percent, Formosa Plastics accelerated 3.29 percent, Nan Ya Plastics skyrocketed 8.61 percent, Asia Cement added 0.56 percent and Fubon Financial was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the markets opened flat on Tuesday but quickly trended upward and spent the balance of the day in positive territory, ending near session highs.
The Dow soared 370.44 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 49,174.50, while the NASDAQ rallied 236.41 points or 1.04 percent to end at 22,863.68 and the S&P 500 gained 52.32 points or 0.77 percent to close at 6,890.07.
The strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting, as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the steep drop on Monday when the Dow fell to a one-month low.
Semiconductor stocks lead the move back to the upside, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.5 percent to a new record closing high. Significant strength was also visible among networking, gold, airline and software stocks.
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in February as its consumer confidence index rose to 91.2 from an upwardly revised 89.0 in January.
Crude oil prices fell slumped Tuesday as traders continue to evaluate the potential turbulence in the trade tariff environment following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on reciprocal tariffs. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery sank $0.71 or 1.1 percent to $66.31 a barrel.
Closer to home, Taiwan will see January figures for unemployment later today; in December, the jobless rate was 3.35 percent.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
