The Taiwan stock market has experienced a continuous upswing, closing higher for seven consecutive sessions and gaining almost 1,500 points, equivalent to a 6.3 percent increase. Currently, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) is just below the 24,400-point threshold, although there are expectations that investors will likely take profits on Friday.
The global outlook suggests a propensity for profit-taking, especially in the technology sectors. While European markets showed gains, the U.S. markets declined, setting the trend for Asian markets to potentially follow suit.
On Thursday, the TSE saw a significant rise, driven by gains in financial shares, technology stocks, and plastic companies. The index surged by 382.95 points, or 1.60 percent, to close at 24,390.95, after fluctuating between 24,151.80 and 24,416.67.
Key movers included Cathay Financial, which rallied by 2.99 percent, Mega Financial with a slight increase of 0.24 percent, and CTBC Financial, which fell by 1.47 percent. First Financial rose by 0.35 percent, Fubon Financial surged 3.70 percent, and E Sun Financial climbed 0.83 percent. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) saw a remarkable acceleration of 3.35 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.89 percent, and Largan Precision spiked 2.89 percent. Catcher Technology increased by 1.14 percent, MediaTek slid 1.05 percent, while Delta Electronics soared 3.21 percent, Novatek Microelectronics strengthened 1.58 percent, and Formosa Plastics improved by 0.88 percent. Both Nan Ya Plastics and Asia Cement jumped 1.46 percent, and United Microelectronics Corporation remained unchanged.
The U.S. markets provided a largely pessimistic lead, starting lower on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 32.39 points, or 0.08 percent, to finish at 39,753.75. The NASDAQ, however, plummeted by 364.04 points, or 1.95 percent, to close at 18,283.41, while the S&P 500 fell by 49.37 points, or 0.88 percent, to end at 5,584.54.
Early optimism on Wall Street was driven by positive sentiment regarding potential interest rate cuts, which quickly faded as traders had seemingly already factored in a rate cut expected in September. This prompted a sell-off, particularly affecting major tech stocks like Nvidia (NVDA), one of the year's significant gainers.
Despite the pullback, the Federal Reserve is still anticipated to lower rates in September, after a Labor Department report indicated that prices in the U.S. unexpectedly edged slightly lower in June.
In the commodity markets, oil futures settled higher on Thursday, buoyed by the prospect of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve following favorable inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August dipped by $0.52 to end at $82.62 a barrel.
