Renewed Support Predicted For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one day after snapping the four-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 750 points or 5.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,420-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat after the Federal Reserve didn't raise its benchmark lending rate more than expected on Wednesday. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were firmly higher and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology and cement companies, while the financials and plastics were mixed.

For the day, the index advanced 154.93 points or 1.01 percent to finish at the daily high of 15,420.13 after moving as low as 15,291.68.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial climbed 1.06 percent, while Mega Financial rallied 2.03 percent, CTBC Financial shed 0.44 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.33 percent, First Financial added 0.77 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.61 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company strengthened 1.53 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation advanced 0.92 percent, Hon Hai Precision rose 0.30 percent, Largan Precision surged 4.24 percent, Catcher Technology soared 4.21 percent, MediaTek improved 0.84 percent, Delta Electronics jumped 1.90 percent, Novatek Microelectronics lost 0.42 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.45 percent, Asia Cement gained 1.19 percent, Taiwan Cement spiked 1.38 percent and Nan Ya Plastics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday and spent most of the day that way before a late push bumped them into the green.

The Dow rose 6.92 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 23,092.96, while the NASDAQ surged 231.77 points or 2.00 percent to close at 11,816.32 and the S&P 500 jumped 42.61 points or 1.05 percent to end at 4,119.21.

The late-day rally on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to raise interest rates by another quarter point and signaled further rate hikes. The latest interest rate hike comes after the central bank raised rates by 75 basis points in November and by 50 basis points in December.

The Fed also said it anticipates ongoing increases in interest rates will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector job growth slowed more than expected in January. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted for the third consecutive month in January.

Oil prices fell to a three-week low on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing an increase in crude inventories last week in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $2.46 or 3.1 percent at $76.41 a barrel.