Tech Shares May Weigh On Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, gathering more than 410 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 16,920-point plateau although investors figure to cash in on Thursday,

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on nervousness over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology stocks and financial shares, while the cement companies were soft.

For the day, the index climbed 160.82 points or 0.96 percent to finish at the daily high of 16,922.48 after moving as low as 16,771.76.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.33 percent, while Mega Financial collected 1.37 percent, CTBC Financial added 0.61 percent, First Financial gained 0.54 percent, Fubon Financial eased 0.16 percent, E Sun Financial increased 0.56 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company strengthened 1.43 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 1.58 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.93 percent, Largan Precision shed 0.44 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.06 percent, MediaTek improved 1.45 percent, Delta Electronics surged 3.96 percent, Novatek Microelectronics soared 2.59 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.42 percent, Nan Ya Plastics was up 0.38 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.45 percent and Taiwan Cement and China Steel were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday; the Dow kept bouncing up and down but finished in the green, while the NASDAQ and S&P quickly headed south and remained in the red.

The Dow added 94.93 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 33,668.21, while the NASDAQ dropped 168.22 points or 1.27 percent to end at 13,108.19 and the S&P 500 sank 15.82 points or 0.37 percent to close at 4,268.03.

The sharp pullback by the NASDAQ came after the Bank of Canada once again raised interest rates after leaving rates unchanged for two straight meetings, raising the concerns about the outlook for U.S. rates.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its latest monetary policy decision next Wednesday, with the central bank widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit widened significantly in April as the value of exports plummeted.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday as Saudi Arabia's recent decision to cut crude output outweighed concerns about demand, while data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $0.79 or 1.1 percent at $72.53 a barrel.