Overbought Taiwan Shares Called Higher Again On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in six straight sessions, surging more than 1,100 points or 4.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 24,000-point plateau and it's called to open higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, fueled by technology shares ahead of key inflation data. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, weakness from the plastics and a mixed picture from the technology companies.

For the day, the index advanced 107.00 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 24,007.08 after trading between 23,682.49 and 24,040.61.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial accelerated 2.42 percent, while CTBC Financial collected 2.25 percent, First Financial rose 0.35 percent, Fubon Financial surged 3.60 percent, E Sun Financial climbed 1.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.48 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skidded 1.08 percent, Hon Hai Precision dropped 0.89 percent, Largan Precision eased 0.16 percent, Catcher Technology rallied 2.10 percent, MediaTek tumbled 1.71 percent, Delta Electronics soared 2.56 percent, Novatek Microelectronics fell 0.35 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.88 percent, Nan Ya Plastics retreated 1.03 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.34 percent and Mega Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened flat on Wednesday but climbed steadily throughout the day, ending with strong gains near session highs.

The Dow surged 429.39 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 39,721.36, while the NASDAQ rallied 218.16 points or 1.18 percent to end at a record 18,647.45 and the S&P 500 jumped 56.93 points or 1.02 percent to close at 5,633.91 - also a record.

The rally on Wall Street was due to strength among technology stocks, as reflected by the notable advance by the tech-heavy NASDAQ.

Stocks may also have benefitted from optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data later today.

During congressional testimony, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said more good data would strengthen the central bank's confidence inflation is moving sustainably toward its 2 percent target and lead to a potential interest rate cut.

Oil futures settled higher Wednesday after data showed a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $0.69 at $82.10 a barrel.