The Taiwan stock market broke its two-day losing streak on Friday, where it had lost nearly 300 points, or 1.3%, overall. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits slightly above the 22,900 mark, and it is likely to garner further support as we head into Monday.
The global market outlook is optimistic, buoyed by the rising oil prices. On Friday, both European and U.S. markets experienced gains, and similar positive trends are anticipated for Asian markets as they open on Monday.
On Friday, the Taiwan Stock Exchange saw a significant rise, driven by strong performances in financial and technology stocks, although plastics companies showed some weakness. Specifically, the index surged 348.66 points, or 1.55%, closing at 22,904.32, after fluctuating between 22,799.53 and 23,019.04 during the session.
Stocks in the spotlight include Cathay Financial, which increased by 0.30%, Mega Financial, which climbed 0.76%, and First Financial, which edged up 0.18%. E Sun Financial grew by 0.37%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 2.97%, and United Microelectronics Corporation nudged up 0.11%. Hon Hai Precision advanced by 0.25%, Largan Precision rose by 0.63%, while Catcher Technology slipped 0.75%. MediaTek saw a robust rise of 3.56%, Delta Electronics improved by 3.41%, while Novatek Microelectronics declined 0.72%. Formosa Plastics dipped 0.34%, Nan Ya Plastics fell 0.50%, Asia Cement increased 0.46%, and both CTBC Financial and Fubon Financial remained unchanged.
Wall Street ended the week on a positive note, as major indices opened higher on Friday and mostly maintained their upward trajectory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 426.16 points, or 0.97%, to close at a record 44,296.51. The NASDAQ grew by 31.23 points, or 0.16%, to end at 19,003.65, and the S&P 500 rose by 20.63 points, or 0.35%, finishing at 5,969.34.
For the week, the Dow increased by 2.0%, while both the NASDAQ and S&P 500 each advanced by 1.7%.
This upward movement occurred despite a decline in Nvidia (NVDA) shares, which fell by 3.2% even after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings and revenues.
In U.S. economic news, revised figures from the University of Michigan indicated that consumer sentiment in November improved less than anticipated, yet it remains at its highest level since April.
Oil prices rose on Friday amid escalating concerns about the Russia-Ukraine conflict. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January settled up $1.14, or 1.6%, at $71.24 per barrel. Over the week, WTI crude futures gained 6.5%.
Domestically, Taiwan is set to release October's industrial production numbers today; in September, industrial output had increased by 11.22% year-over-year.
