Taiwan Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing almost 300 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,850-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key inflation data later this week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the technology stocks, weakness from the financials and a mixed bag from the cement and plastics companies.

For the day, the index gained 148.87 points or 0.72 percent to finish at 20,857.71 after trading between 20,816.42 and 20,933.28.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dropped 0.72 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.24 percent, CTBC Financial plunged 2.54 percent, First Financial fell 0.36 percent, Fubon Financial lost 0.42 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.70 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.12 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.38 percent, Largan Precision added 0.45 percent, Catcher Technology soared 3.38 percent, MediaTek jumped 1.83 percent, Delta Electronics sank 0.78 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dipped 0.17 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.15 percent, Nan Ya Plastics skidded 1.05 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.43 percent, Taiwan Cement climbed 1.20 percent, China Steel perked 0.20 percent and Hon Hai Precision was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded as the day progressed, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 81.33 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 39,431,51, while the NASDAQ gained 47.37 points or 0.29 percent to end at 16,388.24 and the S&P 500 eased 1.26 points or 0.02 percent to close at 5,221.42.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from renewed optimism about an interest rate cut by Federal Reserve in the coming months.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as key inflation data due this week could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

Oil prices advanced on Monday amid expectations about the outlook for demand after OPEC decided to extend supply cuts into the second half of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.86 at $79.12 a barrel.