Rebound Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 300 points or 1.9 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 16,500-point plateau although it’s likely to bounce higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on bargain hunting and sliding crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and cement stocks, while the technology companies were mixed.

For the day, the index sank 93.28 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 16,498.90 after trading between 16,465.99 and 16,604.87.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial fell 0.32 percent, while Mega Financial tumbled 1.80 percent, CTBC Financial slumped 1.71 percent, Fubon Financial dropped 0.94 percent, First Financial sank 1.08 percent, E Sun Financial plummeted 3.40 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.30 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation skidded 1.15 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.49 percent, Largan Precision declined 1.48 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.03 percent, MediaTek stumbled 1.20 percent, Delta Electronics plunged 3.00 percent, Novatek Microelectronics strengthened 1.25 percent, Formosa Plastic perked 0.47 percent, Nan Ya Plastics dipped 0.23 percent, Asia Cement lost 1.25 percent and Taiwan Cement was down 1.20 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line all day on Tuesday before finally ending with modest gains.

The Dow added 67.29 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 33,128.79, while the NASDAQ rose 27.74 points or 0.22 percent to end at 12,563.76 and the S&P 500 gained 20.10 points or 0.48 percent to close at 4,175.48.

Some encouraging earnings updates and strong economic data aided sentiment ahead of the central bank’s policy announcement later today.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rate by 50 basis points, the sharpest rate hike in about 22 years. The accompanying statement is eyed for clues about how aggressively the central bank plans to tighten monetary policy.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured goods spiked by more than expected in March. Also, the number of job openings in the U.S. rose by 205,000 from a month earlier to a series high of 11.549 million in March.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Tuesday on rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand. Also, fears of sharp interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June sank $2.76 or 2.6 percent at $102.41 a barrel.