Taiwan Bourse May Test Resistance At 20,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market bounced higher again on Tuesday, one day after ending the five-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 840 points or 4.3 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 19,910-point plateau and it has a strong lead again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are tipped to at least open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index advanced 188.47 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 19.914.55 after trading between 19,664.71 and 19,917.06.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial advanced 0.98 percent, while Mega Financial increased 0.38 percent, CTBC Financial and Asia Cement both gathered 0.50 percent, Fubon Financial was up 0.72 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.59 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company added 0.52 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 1.74 percent, Hon Hai Precision skyrocketed 8.68 percent, Catcher Technology surged 3.52 percent, MediaTek sank 0.82 percent, Delta Electronics strengthened 1.46 percent, Novatek Microelectronics spiked 2.06 percent, Formosa Plastics gained 0.58 percent, Nan Ya Plastics climbed 1.07 percent, Taiwan Cement improved 0.63 percent, China Steel rose 0.42 percent and Largan Precision and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday but quickly moved solidly to the upside and finished comfortably in the green.

The Dow soared 235.83 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 39,005.49, while the NASDAQ surged 246.36 points or 1.54 percent to end at 16,265.64 and the S&P 500 rallied 57.33 points or 1.12 percent to close at 5,175.27.

The strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to the Labor Department's highly anticipated report on consumer price inflation in February.

While core price growth slowed slightly less than expected, the slowdown still seems to have added to optimism about the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates in June.

The Labor Department is scheduled to release a separate report on Thursday on producer price inflation for February.

Oil futures settled lower again on Tuesday on the U.S. inflation data and persisting worries about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April sank $0.37 at $77.56 a barrel.