Taiwan Stock Market Overdue For Consolidation On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in seven straight sessions, improving almost 750 points or 4.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,410-point plateau although investors figure to cash in on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on profit taking and weak retail earnings. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastic companies.

For the day, the index surged 206.23 points or 1.20 percent to finish at 17,416.70 after trading between 17,239.94 and 17,421.17.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial gained 0.98 percent, while Mega Financial advanced 1.66 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.74 percent, First Financial increased 1.46 percent, Fubon Financial soared 2.20 percent, E Sun Financial surged 1.98 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company strengthened 1.39 percent, Hon Hai Precision accelerated 1.49 percent, Largan Precision spiked 2.28 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.03 percent, MediaTek rallied 1.54 percent, Delta Electronics improved 1.47 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rose 0.20 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 1.36 percent, Nan Ya Plastics skyrocketed 3.26 percent, Asia Cement added 0.85 percent, Taiwan Cement jumped 1.79 percent, China Steel gathered 1.58 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow dropped 62.75 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 35,088.29, while the NASDAQ tumbled 84.55 points or 0.59 percent to end at 14,199.98 and the S&P 500 fell 9.19 points or 0.20 percent to close at 4,538.19.

The pullback on Wall Street came as some traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets, which has lifted the major averages to their best levels in over three months.

A negative reaction to some of the latest earnings news from major retailers also weighed on Wall Street, with disappointing results from the likes of American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), Kohl's (KSS), Lowe's (LOW) and Best Buy (BBY).

The markets did not show much reaction to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting, which said Fed officials expect to keep interest rates at a restrictive level for "some time."

Crude oil futures settled slightly lower Tuesday ahead of this weekend's OPEC meeting as investors wait to see if more production cuts may be in store. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January eased $0.06 at $77.77 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide October unemployment numbers later today; in September, the jobless rate was 3.44 percent.