Taiwan Bourse May Extend Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 660 points or 2.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 25,820-point plateau and it may see additional support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside as investors figure to wait and see is the U.S. government can avert a shutdown. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index advanced 240.22 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 25,820.54 after trading between 25,738.31 and 25,975.84.

Among the actives, Mega Financial climbed 1.19 percent, while CTBC Financial collected 0.70 percent, First Financial jumped 1.70 percent, Fubon Financial rallied 2.08 percent, E Sun Financial strengthened 1.37 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and MediaTek both rose 0.38 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation expanded 1.56 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.59 percent, Largan Precision improved 1.29 percent, Catcher Technology sank 0.82 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.71 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 1.84 percent, Formosa Plastics added 0.39 percent, Nan Ya Plastics fell 0.38 percent, Asia Cement soared 2.69 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages spent all of Tuesday under water until the very end, when they crept up into positive territory.

The Dow climbed 81.82 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 46,397.89, while the NASDAQ added 68.86 points or 0.30 percent to end at 22,660.01 and the S&P 500 gained 27.25 points or 0.41 percent to close at 6,688.46.

The choppy trading for much of the day came as traders kept an eye on Washington, where lawmakers are struggling to reach an agreement to avert a government shutdown.

The late-day strength on Wall Street reflected hopes lawmakers will reach a last-minute agreement, as they often do, or optimism that a government shutdown will not have a major impact on the economy.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Conference Board report showing a bigger than expected decrease by its reading on U.S. consumer confidence in the month of September.

Crude oil declined sharply on Tuesday, extending recent losses as excess supply concerns continue to linger due to the anticipated production increase by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $1.08 or 1.70 percent at $62.37 per barrel.