Taiwan Stock Market Expected To Open To The Upside

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, gathering almost 160 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 22,120-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets moved higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the plastics companies and mixed performances from the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index improved 150.58 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 22,118.63 after trading between 22,110.08 and 22,306.83.

Among the actives, Mega Financial dipped 0.13 percent, while First Financial eased 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial rallied 2.04 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.84 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company climbed 1.15 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation tumbled 1.78 percent, Hon Hai Precision skidded 1.18 percent, Largan Precision fell 0.40 percent, Catcher Technology slid 0.24 percent, MediaTek jumped 1.79 percent, Delta Electronics soared 4.10 percent, Novatek Microelectronics perked 0.19 percent, Formosa Plastics strengthened 1.38 percent, Nan Ya Plastics accelerated 2.68 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.67 percent and Cathay Financial and CTBC Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Monday, dipped midday but still finished solidly in the green.

The Dow jumped 353.44 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 41,841.63, while the NASDAQ climbed 54.58 points or 0.31 percent to close at 17,808.66 and the S&P 500 improved 36.18 points or 0.64 percent to end at 5,675.12.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness, which saw the S&P 500 plunge into correction territory last Thursday.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to the Commerce Department's report on U.S. retail sales in the month of February, which wasn't as bad as feared.

However, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. While the Fed is almost universally expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement and officials' latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

Oil futures rose on Monday on hopes of improved demand from China after plans to boost consumer spending, and on possible supply disruptions due to the tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.40 or 0.6 percent at $67.58 a barrel.