The Taiwan stock market on Friday snapped the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 110 points or 0.9 percent. The Taiwan Stock Market now rests just above the 12,090-point plateau and it may see additional support on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to solid economic data from the world's largest economies. The European and U.S. markets were up on Friday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.
The TSE finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the financial shares and cement companies were offset by weakness from the technology stocks.
For the day, the index was up 23.39 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 12,090.29 after trading between 12,055.91 and 12,117.55.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.35 percent, while Mega Financial added 0.47 percent, Fubon Financial gained 0.53 percent, First Financial jumped 1.46 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.52 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.45 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.93 percent, Hon Hai Precision soared 2.56 percent, Largan Precision lost 0.60 percent, Catcher Technology sank 0.80 percent, MediaTek eased 0.12 percent, Asia Cement advanced 0.72 percent, Taiwan Cement increased 0.34 percent and CTBC Financial was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks fluctuated Friday but still inched higher, sending the major averages to fresh record closing highs.
The Dow added 50.46 points or 0.17 percent to 29,348, while the NASDAQ gained 31.81 points or 0.34 percent to 9,388.94 and the S&P 500 rose 12.81 points or 0.39 percent to 3,329.62. For the week, the Sow added1.8 percent, the NASDAQ gained 2.3 percent and the S&P rose 2 percent.
The continued strength on Wall Street was widely attributed to Chinese GDP data even though the latest report showed China's economy grew at the slowest pace since 1990. But the GDP growth matched estimates, which suggested the impact of the U.S.-China trade war wasn't worse than feared.
In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department noted a substantial increase in U.S. housing starts in December. Also, the Federal Reserve observed a modest pullback in U.S. industrial production last month.
Crude oil futures failed to hold early gains and settled near the flat line Friday as traders weighed demand and supply position in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended at $58.54 a barrel, gaining 2 cents for the session after peaking earlier at $58.98 a barrel. For the week, crude oil futures shed about 0.8 percent.
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