Additional Support Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering more than 320 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 14,880-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and cement and plastics companies.

For the day, the index climbed 169.91 points or 1.16 percent to finish at the daily high of 14,879.55 after trading as low as 14,678.23.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.23 percent, while Mega Financial jumped 1.59 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.66 percent, Fubon Financial soared 2.01 percent, E Sun Financial improved 1.22 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.62 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rallied 2.58 percent, Hon Hai Precision gained 0.50 percent, Catcher Technology and Largan Precision both climbed 1.10 percent, MediaTek spiked 2.81 percent, Delta Electronics strengthened 1.34 percent, China Steel was up 1.57 percent, Formosa Plastics increased 1.46 percent, Nan Ya Plastics perked 0.26 percent, Asia Cement gathered 0.61 percent, Taiwan Cement advanced 1.04 percent and First Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up sharply positive as the major averages opened fairly flat and stayed that way before exploding higher late in the day.

The Dow surged 737.24 points or 2.18 percent to finish at 34,589.77, while the NASDAQ soared 484.22 points or 4.41 percent to end at 11,468.00 and the S&P 500 rallied 122.48 points or 3.09 percent to close at 4,080.11.

The rally on Wall Street came as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks provided further evidence the central bank plans to slow its aggressive pace of interest rate hikes as soon as next month.

The Fed's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for December 13-14, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating a 77.0 percent chance of a 50-basis point rate hike and a 23.0 percent chance of a fifth straight 75-basis point rate hike.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP noted slower than expected private sector job growth in November, while the Commerce Department reported an unexpected upward revision to GDP growth in the third quarter.

Crude oil futures surged on Wednesday after data showed a steep drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. Expectations of increased demand from China and a weaker dollar also contributed to the jump in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $2.35 or 3 percent at $80.55 a barrel.