Higher Open Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 1,150 points or 4.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 22,510-point plateau although it's expected to move back to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive as U.S. inflation data eased concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished solidly higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and mixed performances from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index plunged 282.95 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 22,514.57 after trading between 22,509.65 and 22,777.34.

Among the actives, Fubon Financial shed 0.44 percent, while E Sun Financial fell 0.36 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company tanked 2.29 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 1.89 percent, Hon Hai Precision surrendered 2.01 percent, Largan Precision strengthened 1.69 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.25 percent, MediaTek rallied 1.43 percent, Delta Electronics stumbled 2.32 percent, Novatek Microelectronics added 0.60 percent, Formosa Plastics jumped 1.72 percent, Nan Ya Plastics climbed 1.64 percent, Asia Cement improved 1.25 percent and Cathay Financial, Mega Financial, CTBC Financial and First Financial were unchanged.

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

The Dow surged 703.27 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 43,221.55, while the NASDAQ rallied 466.84 points or 2.45 percent to close at 19,511.23 and the S&P 500 jumped 107.00 points or 1.83 percent to end at 5,949.91.

The rally on Wall Street was a positive reaction to the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation in December. While the report showed consumer prices rose slightly more than expected in December, the annual rate of core consumer price growth unexpectedly slowed.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from financial giants JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C).

Oil prices spiked Wednesday as crude inventories in the U.S. dropped last week, while possible supply disruptions due to new sanctions against Russia also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February rose $2.54 or 3.3 percent at $80.04 a barrel.