The Taiwan stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, surging almost 390 points or 3.7 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 10,710-point plateau and it inherits another firm lead for Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to optimism about the outlook for the markets and the economy going into the new year. The European markets were down and the U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow the latter lead.
The TSE finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials and technology stocks were tempered by weakness from the steel producers.
For the day, the index climbed 67.87 points or 0.64 percent to finish at the daily high of 10,710.73 after moving as low as 10,650.77 on turnover of 103.56 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 1.31 percent, while Hon Hai Precision shed 0.21 percent, Largan Precision surged 5.85 percent, AU Optronics lost 0.40 percent, Innolux added 0.40 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.59 percent, Mega Financial gained 0.62 percent, Cathay Financial climbed 1.31 percent, China Steel eased 0.20 percent and Taiwan Steel plummeted 6.03 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks showed an early move to the upside Tuesday and stayed that way throughout the session.
The Dow added 104.79 points or 0.42 percent to 24,824.01, while the NASDAQ surged 103.51 points or 1.50 percent to 7,006.90 and the S&P gained 22.20 points or 0.83 percent to 2,695.81.
Trading activity was subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data keeping traders on the sidelines.
The economic calendar for the week starts off relatively quiet, although the closely watched monthly jobs report is likely to attract considerable attention on Friday.
Crude oil futures were flat Tuesday, holding near the highest in more than two years as a spate of ultra-cold weather may drive demand for heating oil and other energy products. February WTI oil fell 5 cents or 0.1 percent to $60.37/bbl.
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