Tech Shares May Boost Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 370 points or 1.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 22,530-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is generally positive, with technology stocks likely to lead the way higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the technology stocks were capped by weakness from the financial sector.

For the day, the index gained 164.74 points or 0.74 percent to finish at the daily high of 22,527.01 after moving as low as 22,211.10.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial sank 0.81 percent, while Mega Financial dropped 0.94 percent, CTBC Financial perked 0.16 percent, First Financial dipped 0.17 percent, Fubon Financial skidded 1.11 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.59 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 0.93 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.46 percent, Hon Hai Precision strengthened 1.26 percent, Largan Precision climbed 1.16 percent, Catcher Technology jumped 1.95 percent, MediaTek surged 6.69 percent, Delta Electronics eased 0.11 percent, Novatek Microelectronics plunged 4.68 percent, Formosa Plastics slumped 1.16 percent, Nan Ya Plastics tanked 2.14 percent and Asia Cement lost 1.20 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and remained in the green throughout the session, ending with modest gains.

The Dow jumped 217.54 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 44,458.30, while the NASDAQ rallied 192.88 points or 0.94 percent to end at 20,611.34 and the S&P 500 added 37.74 points or 0.61 percent to close at 6,263.26.

The strength on Wall Street reflected optimism about a potential trade deal between the U.S. and the European Union.

Nvidia (NVDA) helped lead the markets higher, with the AI darling jumping by 1.8 percent and briefly becoming the first company to reach a market capitalization of $4 trillion.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its June monetary policy meeting, which revealed most participants generally agree the central bank is well positioned to wait for more clarity on the outlook for inflation and the economy before adjusting interest rates.

Crude oil price inched higher on Wednesday, as Saudi projections for increased demand were offset by a jump in U.S. oil inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery ticked higher by $0.05 to settle at $68.38 per barrel.