Taiwan Bourse May Crack Resistance At 21,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 430 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,985-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on hopeful signs for the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the technology and plastics companies, while the financials were soft.

For the day, the index gained 128.14 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 20,985.85 after trading between 20,816.77 and 20,994.53.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial slumped 1.45 percent, while Mega Financial retreated 1.34 percent, CTBC Financial declined 1.23 percent, Fubon Financial lost 0.42 percent, First Financial dropped 1.44 percent, E. Sun Financial tumbled 1.41 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor increased 0.73 percent, United Microelectronics shed 0.57 percent, Hon Hai Precision strengthened 1.47 percent, Largan Precision rallied 2.68 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.22 percent, MediaTek surged 3.59 percent, Delta Electronics eased 0.16 percent, Novatek Microelectronics sank 0.68 percent, Nan Ya Plastics improved 0.71 percent, Asia Cement and Formosa Plastics both fell 0.44 percent, China Steel added 0.60 percent and Taiwan Cement was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages spent most of Tuesday hugging the unchanged line before a late push bumped them firmly into the green.

The Dow climbed 126.60 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 39,558.11, while the NASDAQ rallied 122.94 points or 0.75 percent to close at 16,511.18 and the S&P 500 added 25.26 points or 0.48 percent to end at 5,246.68.

The higher close on Wall Street came as treasury yields moved to the downside after an early advance, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note falling to its lowest closing level in over a month.

Treasury yields initially moved higher following the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of April.

However, while the report initially generated renewed uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates, some economists pointed to the downward revisions to the March data as a positive sign.

Oil futures settled lower Tuesday as data showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices raised concerns that Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for a longer period. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June sank $1.10 or about 1.4 percent at $78.02 a barrel.