Rebound Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival, the Taiwan stock market had snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 550 points or 2.7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 21,850-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly flat with a touch of upside ahead of the FOMC statement on Wednesday. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to inch higher.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the technology stocks and gains from the financial sector.

For the day, the index shed 44.32 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 21,858.38 after trading between 21,823.62 and 21,920.85.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial improved 1.22 percent, while Mega Financial perked 0.13 percent, CTBC Financial advanced 0.95 percent, First Financial climbed 1.09 percent, Fubon Financial collected 1.06 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.35 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.68 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 1.66 percent, Largan Precision slumped 1.05 percent, Catcher Technology weakened 1.11 percent, MediaTek skidded 1.16 percent, Formosa Plastics added 0.48 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gained 0.79 percent, Asia Cement spiked 1.97 percent, Taiwan Cement increased 1.07 percent, China Steel rallied 0.85 percent and Hon Hai Precision, Delta Electronics and Novatek Microelectronics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Monday before gradually climbing up into positive territory.

The Dow gained 69.05 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 38,868.04, while the NASDAQ added 51.90 points or 0.35 percent to close at 17,192.53 and the S&P 500 rose 13/80 points or 0.26 percent to end at 5,360.79.

Traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of several key events later this week, including the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting.

The Fed is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday, when the central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

Since the decision is largely seen as a foregone conclusion, traders are likely to pay closer attention to Fed officials' latest projections for the economy and rates.

Ahead of the Fed announcement, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its report on consumer price inflation in the month of May.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.21 or about 2.9 percent at $77.74 a barrel.