The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, improving more than 70 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,625-point plateau and it's expected to open higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid economic and earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.
The TSE finished slightly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financials, technology stocks and plastics companies.
For the day, the index perked 17.07 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 15,626.07 after trading between 15,578.67 and 15,673.62.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.35 percent, while Mega Financial eased 0.15 percent, CTBC Financial slid 0.22 percent, First Financial perked 0.18 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.40 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dipped 0.10 percent, Largan Precision sank 0.75 percent, Catcher Technology gained 0.55 percent, MediaTek climbed 1.05 percent, Delta Electronics fell 0.33 percent, Novatek Microelectronics improved 1.18 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.11 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 0.13 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.23 percent, Taiwan Cement shed 0.38 percent and China Steel, Hon Hai Precision and Fubon Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained solidly in the green throughout the trading day.
The Dow surged 546.68 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 33,674.38, while the NASDAQ rallied 269.01 points or 2.25 percent to end at 12,235.41 and the S&P 500 jumped 75.03 points or 1.85 percent to close at 4,136.25. For the week, the NASDAQ rose 0.1 percent, the S&P slid 0.8 percent and the Dow fell 1.2 percent.
The rally on Wall Street partly reflected bargain hunting, as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness.
Regional banks helped lead the recovery after ongoing concerns about turmoil in the sector weighed on the markets in recent sessions, while strong quarterly results from tech giant Apple (AAPL) fueled gains on the NASDAQ.
Traders also reacted to the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report for April, which showed that job growth far exceeded estimates and the unemployment rate ticked lower.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday on easing recession concerns in some of the world's major economies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $2.78 or 4.1 percent at $71.34 a barrel but was down more than 7 percent for the week.
Closer to home, Taiwan will release April numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to sink 18.0 percent on year after dropping 20.1 percent in March. Exports are called lower by an annual 18.2 percent after falling 19.1 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $3.70 billion, down from $4.22 billion a month earlier.
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