Tech Shares Likely To Boost Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 210 points or 1.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,770-point plateau and it's expected to open higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with strength expected from the technology and banking stocks. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index added 68.28 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 15,769.76 after trading between 15,681.10 and 15,811.20.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial increased 0.72 percent, while Mega Financial eased 0.15 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 0.93 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.71 percent, First Financial gained 0.76 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.40 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 0.95 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.34 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.49 percent, Largan Precision shed 0.45 percent, MediaTek improved 0.91 percent, Delta Electronics skidded 1.01 percent, Novatek Microelectronics plunged 2.70 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rallied 1.04 percent, Asia Cement gathered 0.46 percent, Taiwan Cement was up 0.41 percent and Catcher Technology and Formosa Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened sharply higher and stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow jumped 323.35 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 32,717.60, while the NASDAQ surged 210.16 points or 1.79 percent to end at 11,926.24 and the S&P 500 spiked 56.54 points or 1.42 percent to end at 4,027.81.

The rally on Wall Street reflected a rebound by technology stocks, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ recovering from the pullback seen early in the week to hit its best closing level in over a month.

Semiconductor stocks led the recovery in the tech sector, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 3.3 percent. Considerable strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.9 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

The markets also benefited from a continued easing of concerns about contagion from the recent turmoil in the banking sector.

Oil futures failed to hold early gains and ended modestly lower on Wednesday, despite data showing a drop in crude stockpiles last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May faded $0.23 or 0.3 percent at $72.97 a barrel, coming off a high of $74.37 a barrel.