Taiwan Stock Market Poised To Open To The Upside Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 500 points or 2.1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 24,000-point plateau and it's expected to find additional support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid earnings news and interest rate optimism. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index added 117.89 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 23,997.25 after trading between 23,861.77 and 24,174.18.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.62 percent, while Mega Financial dipped 0.24 percent, CTBC Financial declined 0.80 percent, Fubon Financial advanced 0.88 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company accelerated 1.44 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation sank 0.75 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.62 percent, Largan Precision perked 0.16 percent, Catcher Technology rallied 1.58 percent, MediaTek shed 0.74 percent, Delta Electronics lost 0.60 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dropped 0.89 percent, Formosa Plastics eased 0.17 percent, Nan Ya Plastics tumbled 1.51 percent, Asia Cement slumped 1.43 percent and First Financial and E Sun Financial were unchanged.

The Dow surged 742.76 points or 1.85 percent to finish at a record 40,945.48, while the NASDAQ added 36.77 points or 0.20 percent to close at 18,509.34 and the S&P 500 rose 35.98 points or 0.64 percent to end at 5,667.20 - also a record.

The strength on Wall Street reflected positive earnings news from the likes of UnitedHealth (UNH), Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS).

Traders also reacted positively to the latest U.S. economic news, including a Commerce Department report showing U.S. retail sales came in unchanged in June. The Labor Department also released a report showing import prices in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat last month while export prices slid 0.5 percent.

Gold stocks also saw significant strength amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.4 percent. The index reached a more than two-year closing high.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, extending losses to a third straight session amid concerns about the outlook for demand and a slightly stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August sank $1.15 or 1.4 percent at $80.76 a barrel.