Rally May Stall For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in four straight sessions, gathering more than 250 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,760-point plateau although investors may cash in on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat amidst a lack of catalysts. The European and U.S. bourses were little changed and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index rallied 155.09 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 15,763.51 after trading between 15,675.28 and 15,818.88.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial jumped 1.63 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.46 percent, CTBC Financial added 0.67 percent, Fubon Financial gained 0.84 percent, First Financial rose 0.38 percent, E Sun Financial increased 0.81 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 0.97 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation climbed 1.17 percent, Hon Hai Precision improved 0.98 percent, Largan Precision skyrocketed 9.87 percent, Catcher Technology fell 0.27 percent, MediaTek rallied 1.16 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.69 percent, Novatek Microelectronics spiked 2.80 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.88 percent, Nan Ya Plastics strengthened 0.80 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.34 percent and Taiwan Cement gathered 0.53 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded badly in the afternoon, finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 40.47 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 33,431.44, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.27 points or 0.11 percent to close at 11,675.74 and the S&P 500 perked 2.78 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,048.42.

The early strength on Wall Street came as treasury yields moved notably lower amid optimism that the Federal Reserve is close to finishing its aggressive interest rate hikes.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as treasury yields rebounded ahead of congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell - who is due to testify before the Senate Banking Committee later today and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report is also likely to attract attention later in the week.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Monday after Saudi Arabia signaled that it sees oil demand picking up in Asia and Europe by raising most prices for crude shipments to the regions. West Texas International Crude oil futures for April advanced $0.78 or 1 percent at $80.46 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release February figures exports and trade balance later today. Inflation is expected to rise 2.66 percent on year, easing from 3.04 percent in January. Imports are tipped to sink 9.60 percent on year after dropping 16.60 percent in the previous month. Exports are called lower by an annual 11.60 percent after tumbling 21.2 percent a month earlier. The trade surplus is pegged at $3.91 billion, up from $2.34 billion in January.