Win Streak May Continue For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 75 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 16,150-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing treasuries and ahead of key data later this week. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the cement and steel companies were offset by weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology shares.

For the day, the index rose 15.07 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 16,149.68 after trading between 16,101.24 and 16,203.33.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial lost 0.57 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.08 percent, CTBC Financial slumped 1.02 percent, First Financial slid 0.38 percent, Fubon Financial dropped 0.83 percent, E Sun Financial sank 0.62 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company eased 0.19 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.43 percent, Hon Hai Precision plunged 3.77 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.25 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.55 percent, MediaTek skyrocketed 6.99 percent, Novatek Microelectronics soared 4.63 percent, Nan Ya Plastics retreated 1.45 percent, Asia Cement jumped 1.78 percent, Taiwan Cement gained 0.47 percent, China Steel gathered 0.42 percent and Delta Electronics and Formosa Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened higher on Monday and mostly improved as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 511.37 points or 1.58 percent to finish at 32,928.96, while the NASDAQ rallied 146.47 points or 1.16 percent to end at 12,789.48 and the S&P 500 gained 49.45 points or 1.20 percent to close at 4,166.82.

The rebound on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting, with traders picking up stocks at reduced levels following last week's sell-off - which reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates and concerns in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the potential for further rate hikes.

Oil prices declined sharply Monday amid easing concerns about supply disruptions from the Middle East region. Investors are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement and the non-farm payroll data for October on Friday. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December slumped $3.23 or 3.8 percent at $82.31 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release preliminary Q3 data for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 2.1 percent on year - up from 1.36 percent in the previous three months.