Taiwan stock has a green light for Monday’s trade
The Taiwan stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 270 points or 2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,130-point plateau and it’s looking at a steady start again on Monday – although it may see profit taking later in the day. The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism for economic stimulus and a coronavirus vaccine. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to at least open in similar fashion. The TSE finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and cement companies. For the day, the index jumped 155.34 points or 1.11 percent to finish at 14,132.44 after trading between 14,010.17 and 14,149.56. Among the actives, Cathay Financial improved 1.12 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.34 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.51 percent, Fubon Financial jumped 1.57 percent, First Financial rose 0.47 percent, E Sun Financial increased 0.59 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company climbed 1.21 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skyrocketed 9.93 percent, Hon Hai Precision gathered 1.10 percent, Largan Precision gained 0.73 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 1.02 percent, MediaTek added 0.71 percent, Formosa Plastic perked 0.90 percent, Asia Cement spiked 0.80 percent and Taiwan Cement was up 0.34 percent.
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Canada stocks-TSX declines on weakness in energy stocks
Canada’s main stock index fell on Friday, weighed down by weakness in energy stocks, while concerns over delays to a new U.S. stimulus package further dented sentiment. The energy sector dropped 1.1 percent as U.S. crude prices fell 0.1 percent a barrel, while Brent crude lost 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday raised the possibility of U.S. stimulus negotiations dragging on through Christmas. At 09:37 a.m, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 72.79 points, or 0.41 percent, at 17,520.55. Energy producer Enerplus Corp fell 3.8 percent, the most on the TSX, and the second biggest decliner was cancer drug developer Trillium Therapeutics Inc, down 3 percent. The ratio of Canadian household debt-to-income narrowed to 170.9 percent in the third quarter from a revised 172.1 percent in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said. The financials sector slipped 0.5 percent, while the industrials sector fell 0.3 percent. The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.3 percent.
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KSE-100 boosted by upbeat economic facts
The stock market largely ignored political uncertainty for the third straight day on Friday, notching up modest gains as investors focused on encouraging economic data. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), workers’ remittances increased to $2.34 billion in November 2020, 2.4 percent higher than in October and 28.4 percent higher than in November 2019. Furthermore, the Asian Development Bank in its Outlook Supplement stated that Pakistan’s economy was on the path of recovery, particularly in the manufacturing and construction sectors, which boosted investors’ confidence. At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded an increase of 164.56 points, or 0.39 percent, to settle at 42,470.40 points. A total of 558 million shares were traded. Overall, trading volumes surged to 557.6 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 472.4 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs23.9 billion. Shares of 414 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 225 stocks closed higher, 167 declined and 22 remained unchanged. Pakistan Refinery was the volume leader with 84.8 million shares, gaining Rs1.39 to close at Rs21.19. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 35.3 million shares, gaining Rs1.67 to close at Rs23.96 and Unity Foods with 35.2 million shares, losing Rs0.18 to close at Rs28.25.
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India’s Sensex index caps 6th straight week of gains
India’s benchmark equity index completed its sixth consecutive week of gains as foreign investors continued to load up on local stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.3 percent to 46,099.01, pushing its advance this week to 2.3 percent. That’s the longest streak of weekly gains for the index since July. The NSE Nifty 50 Index rose by a similar magnitude and also completed a sixth consecutive week of increases. Net foreign investment in local stocks this year, at nearly $19 billion through Dec. 9, is the highest since 2013. Global funds bought 22.6 billion rupees of stocks on Thursday, according to provisional data from the exchanges. India and China are the only two economies in Asia that have positive equity inflows this year. With both major stock gauges up 11 percent on the year, setting a series of new record highs since last month, some see reason for caution. The rupee was little changed at 73.65 per U.S. dollar, while the yield on 10-year government bonds rose four basis points to 5.96 percent.
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French stock outperforms DAX on environmental impact
Companies listed on the French CAC40 stock index have performed better in terms of environmental impact than firms listed on the German DAX index, according to an environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact review conducted by credit rating agency Scope. The average environmental score calculated for companies on the CAC40 index was 6.5 out of 10, which represented the best mark for ESG impact, compared to 6.3 for the DAX. The average ESG impact score for largest companies by market capitalisation on both indexes was 6.9. The DAX excelled on other criteria that measure sustainability, with an average social score of 7.0 compared to 6.6 for the Paris-listed stocks, and 7.6 for governance compared to 6.6 for the CAC40. According to the review, the average cost of the environmental impact of DAX firms stood at €0.15 for every euro of revenue, compared with €0.10 for the CAC40 index.