Taiwan Stock Market May Challenge Resistance At 15,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 150 points or 1.1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 14,920-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on encouraging news for interest rates. The European markets had modest gains and the U.S. bourses surged, and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology stocks and a mixed performance from the financials and cement companies.

For the day, the index advanced 114.81 points or 0.78 percent to finish at the daily high of 14,921.59 after moving as low as 14,717.02.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial sank 0.77 percent, while Mega Financial improved 1.59 percent, Fubon Financial plummeted 6.59 percent, First Financial accelerated 1.74 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.51 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company strengthened 1.41 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 2.20 percent, Largan Precision jumped 1.83 percent, Catcher Technology soared 3.61 percent, MediaTek shed 0.59 percent, Delta Electronics spiked 2.01 percent, Formosa Plastics eased 0.11 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was up 0.30 percent, Asia Cement fell 0.45 percent, Taiwan Cement rose 0.13 percent and Hon Hai Precision and CTBC Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but skyrocketed late in the day after the FOMC rate decision.

The Dow spiked 436.05 points or 1.37 percent to finish at 32,197.59, while the NASDAQ surged 469.85 points or 4.06 percent to end at 12,032.42 and the S&P 500 jumped 102.56 points or 2.62 percent to close at 4,023.61.

Stocks were steady in early trading and then accelerated to the upside following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference.

While the Fed announced another 75-basis-point interest rate, as widely expected, comments from Powell hinted at a slowdown in the pace of rate hikes at future meetings.

Crude oil prices surged higher Wednesday after data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while cuts in Russian gas flows to Europe also contributed as oil's sharp rise. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $2.28 or 2.4 percent at $97.26 a barrel.