Consolidation Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in five straight sessions, gathering almost 350 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,850-point plateau although it's due for profit taking on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation, thanks to renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were firmly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financials and mixed performances from the technology and plastics companies.

For the day, the index climbed 94.38 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 15,857.89 after trading between 15,749.04 and 15,879.16.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial gathered 0.34 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.61 percent, CTBC Financial rose 0.44 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.33 percent, First Financial advanced 0.95 percent, E Sun Financial improved 0.60 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.58 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.58 percent, Hon Hai Precision strengthened 1.45 percent, Largan Precision lost 0.41 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.27 percent, MediaTek gained 0.51 percent, Delta Electronics surged 3.97 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rallied 2.01 percent, Formosa Plastics eased 0.11 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was up 0.66 percent, Asia Cement perked 0.11 percent and Taiwan Cement was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday but quickly turned lower, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow plunged 574.98 points or 1.72 percent to finish at 32,856.46, while the NASDAQ sank 145.41 points or 1.25 percent to end at 11,530.33 and the S&P 500 dropped 62.05 points or 1.53 percent to close at 3,986.37.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected a negative reaction to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated semiannual monetary policy testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

Citing stubbornly elevated inflation and stronger than expected economic data, Powell told lawmakers the "ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated."

Powell also said the Fed would be prepared to reaccelerate the pace of rate hikes and for a longer period if incoming data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted.

Crude oil prices tumbled Tuesday on renewed uncertainty about energy demand, while a surging greenback also weighed on the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April slumped $2.88 or 3.6 percent at $77.58 a barrel.