Overbought Taiwan Shares Called Higher Again On Wednesday

The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, accelerating almost 700 points or 4.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 16,700-point plateau and it’s got a solid lead for Wednesday’s trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on continuing optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the technology stocks.

For the day, the index gained 35.59 points or 0.21 percent to finish at the daily high of 16,684.95 after moving as low as 16,608.10.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial slid 0.33 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.13 percent, CTBC Financial sank 0.59 percent, First Financial eased 0.19 percent, E Sun Financial dipped 0.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 0.91 percent, Hon Hai Precision fell 0.31 percent, Largan Precision gained 0.70 percent, Catcher Technology dropped 0.82 percent, MediaTek added 0.68 percent, Delta Electronics shed 0.65 percent, Novatek Microelectronics improved 0.60 percent, Formosa Plastics stumbled 0.64 percent, Nan Ya Plastics retreated 0.77 percent, Taiwan Cement slumped 0.76 percent, China Steel declined 0.80 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation, Fubon Financial and Asia Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mildly positive as the major averages shook off early weakness to quickly move higher and finish with modest gains.

The Dow added 56.74 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 34,152.74, while the NASDAQ jumped 121.08 points or 0.90 percent to end at 13,639.86 and the S&P 500 rose 12.40 points or 0.28 percent to close at 4,378.38.

Profit taking contributed to the initial weakness on Wall Street as traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets. But selling pressure waned shortly after the start of trading, with continued optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributing to the rebound.

The rebound by stocks also came as treasury yields showed a notable move back to the downside after surging in the previous session.

Traders also looked ahead to speeches by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later today and Thursday. Powell is due to deliver opening remarks at the Division of Research and Statistics Centennial Conference and participate in a policy panel discussions.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Tuesday as concerns about the outlook for fuel demand offset recent decisions by Russia and Saudi Arabia to extend production cuts to the end of the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $3.45 or 4.3 percent at $77.37 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide October figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In September, imports were down 12.2 percent on year and exports rose an annual 3.4 percent for a trade surplus of $10.32 billion.