Higher Open Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market climbed higher again on Wednesday, one day after halting the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 150 points or 0.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 23,170-point plateau although it's poised to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is firm on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and plastics stocks, while the technology companies were mixed.

For the day, the index rallied 293.06 points or 1.28 percent to finish at the daily high of 23,172.43 after trading as low as 22,994.28.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial surged 5.67 percent, while Mega Financial soared 4.91 percent, CTBC Financial spiked 1.82 percent, First Financial accelerated 1.61 percent, Fubon Financial rallied 2.84 percent, E Sun Financial collected 1.04 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 1.98 percent, Hon Hai Precision sank 0.73 percent, Largan Precision dipped 0.19 percent, Catcher Technology plunged 2.71 percent, MediaTek fell 0.35 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 0.91 percent, Novatek Microelectronics lost 0.80 percent, Formosa Plastics climbed 1.07 percent, Nan Ya Plastics added 0.52 percent, Asia Cement strengthened 3.63 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday and hugged the line for the first half of the day before diverging to finish mixed.

The Dow dipped 23.90 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 39,308.00, while the NASDAQ gained 159.54 points or 0.88 percent to end at a record 18,188.30 and the S&P 500 added 28.01 points or 0.51 percent to close at 5,537.02 - also a record.

The strength on Wall Street reflected optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the release of weaker than expected economic data.

The Institute for Supply Management showed an unexpected contraction by U.S. service sector activity in June. Also, the Labor Department noted a modest increase by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

However, overall trading activity remained somewhat subdued and treasuries moved notably higher in reaction to the weaker than expected data. The markets closed earlier than usual and remain closed for the Independence Day holiday on Thursday.

Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed a much larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while a weaker dollar also lent support. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended up by $1.07 at $83.88 a barrel.