Tech Shares May Support Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had slipped more than 70 points or 0.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,650-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with little movement expected as support from technology stocks will likely be offset by weakness from oil companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index advanced 110.20 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 15,654.48 after trading between 15,584.74 and 15,669.63.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial jumped 1.63 percent, while Mega Financial increased 0.75 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.66 percent, Fubon Financial climbed 1.01 percent, First Financial rose 0.38 percent, E Sun Financial perked 0.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company improved 0.74 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation strengthened 1.31 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.99 percent, Largan Precision added 0.68 percent, Catcher Technology gained 0.53 percent, MediaTek perked 0.14 percent, Novatek Microelectronics surged 4.73 percent, Formosa Plastics accelerated 1.46 percent, Nan Ya Plastics rose 0.27 percent, Asia Cement was up 0.36 percent, Taiwan Cement gathered 0.68 percent and Delta Electronics and China Steel were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as the major averages went on a volatile ride Tuesday that saw them finish on opposite sides of the unchanged line.

The Dow slumped 162.12 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 34,083, while the NASDAQ advanced 70.99 points or 0.60 percent to close at 11,962.78 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.96 points or 0.02 percent to end at 4,136.33.

The volatility on Wall Street followed the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data, which could have a significant effect on the Federal Reserve's strategy regarding interest rate hikes.

The Labor Department's report showed that U.S. consumer prices increased in line with estimates in January, probably dashing hopes that the Federal Reserve might further ease the pace of its interest rate hikes.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday afternoon, dropping after the release of the U.S. inflation data before coming up off daily lows. West Texas Intermediate was down $1.01 or 1.26 percent to $79.13 per barrel, coming off a low of $77.46 earlier in the day.