Taiwan Shares May Head South Again On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market bounced higher again on Tuesday, one day after ending the eight-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,450 points or 5.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 25,630-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology stocks, while the financials and plastics were soft.

For the day, the index rallied 272.48 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 25,629.64 after trading between 25,335.46 and 25,664.81.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.17 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.48 percent, E Sun Financial lost 0.45 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 1.99 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation eased 0.12 percent, Hon Hai Precision fell 0.23 percent, Largan Precision skidded 1.08 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.27 percent, MediaTek rallied 3.37 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.60 percent, Novatek Microelectronics perked 0.12 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.66 percent, Nan Ya Plastics stumbled 2.00 percent, Asia Cement slumped 1.49 percent and CTBC Financial, First Financial and Fubon Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and all ended under water.

The Dow slumped 125.55 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 45,757.90, while the NASDAQ fell 14.79 points or 0.07 percent to close at 22,333.75 and the S&P lost 8.52 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,606.76.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as the Federal Reserve began its two-day monetary policy meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

The Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to say future rate cuts will depend on incoming economic data.

Crude oil moved sharply higher on Tuesday amid the intensifying Russia-Ukraine war and ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.22 or 1.93 percent at $64.52 per barrel.