Taiwan Stock Market Due For Consolidation

The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, jumping almost 560 points or 3.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 16,600-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation on profit taking, The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index jumped 257.38 points or 1.58 percent to finish at 16,595.67 after trading between 16,444.75 and 16,657.60.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.74 percent, while Mega Financial added 0.31 percent, CTBC Financial jumped 1.56 percent, Fubon Financial dipped 0.14 percent, First Financial climbed 1.16 percent, E Sun Financial gained 0.59 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.64 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation surged 6.57 percent, Hon Hai Precision gathered 2.28 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.17 percent, MediaTek advanced 0.95 percent, Formosa Plastic soared 3.64 percent, Taiwan Cement fell 0.39 percent and Catcher Technology and Asia Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is slightly negative as stocks were unable to hold an early advance on Tuesday, lingering near the unchanged line before finally finishing slightly lower.

The Dow shed 81.52 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 34,312.46, while the NASDAQ eased 4.00 points or 0.03 percent to end at 13,657.17 and the S&P 500 fell 8.92 points or 0.21 percent to close at 4,188.13.

The early strength on Wall Street came amid a continued pullback by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note falling below 1.6 percent – which reflects easing worries about inflation and the possibility the Federal Reserve could begin tapering its asset purchases.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a substantial decrease in new home sales in April. Also, the Conference Board said U.S. consumer confidence held steady in May.

Crude oil futures settled marginally higher on Tuesday, with traders closely following the ongoing negotiations with regard to the Iran nuclear deal. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July edged up $0.02 to $66.07 a barrel.