Taiwan Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Thursday

The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday ended the three-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 385 point or 2.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 18,230-point plateau although if figures to be rangebound on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat amid rising oil prices, geopolitical uncertainty and solid economic data. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index jumped 279.66 points or 1.56 percent to finish at 18,231.47 after trading between 18,109.17 and 18,233.79.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.78 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.26 percent, CTBC Financial was up 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial improved 1.57 percent, First Financial added 0.57 percent, E Sun Financial strengthened 1.32 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 2.05 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation advanced 1.12 percent, Hon Hai Precision and Largan Precision both climbed 1.44 percent, Catcher Technology gained 0.99 percent, MediaTek spiked 2.73 percent, Delta Electronics accelerated 1.97 percent, Formosa Plastic soared 2.40 percent, Asia Cement gathered 0.89 percent and Taiwan Cement was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests little movement as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday before a late rally put them largely unchanged on opposite side of the line.

The Dow shed 54.57 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 34,934.27, while the NASDAQ dipped 15.66 points or 0.11 percent to close at 14,124.09 and the S&P 500 rose 3.94 points or 0.09 percent to end at 4,475.01.

The rebound in afternoon trading came as the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January monetary policy meeting reiterated that it would “soon be appropriate” to begin raising interest rate but were not as hawkish as some had feared.

Traders also weighed lingering concerns about ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Russian claims to be pulling troops back from the Ukrainian border, but Western leaders have not verified the moves.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a substantial rebound in U.S. retail sales in January. Also, The Labor said U.S. import prices increased more than expected last month. And the Federal Reserve said production rebounded more than anticipated in January.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, rebounding from a sharp setback in the previous session as traders reacted to conflicting statements on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Ukrainian border. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.59 or 1.7 percent at $93.66 a barrel.