Taiwan Stock Market Poised To Add To Its Winnings

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 200 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,750-point plateau and it's expected to extend its gains again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on strength from technology shares and optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index jumped 146.89 points or 0.83 percent to finish at the daily high of 17,751.73 after moving as low as 17,619.09.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial and Catcher Technology both improved 0.78 percent, while CTBC Financial collected 0.54 percent, First Financial rose 0.56 percent, Fubon Financial increased 0.94 percent, E Sun Financial gathered 0.59 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company advanced 0.86 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation climbed 1.20 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.48 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.25 percent, MediaTek gained 0.50 percent, Delta Electronics rallied 1.31 percent, Novatek Microelectronics strengthened 1.19 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.13 percent, Nan Ya Plastics soared 0.92 percent, Asia Cement jumped 0.86 percent, Taiwan Cement picked up 0.43 percent, China Steel perked 0.19 percent and Mega Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street upbeat as the major averages opened modestly higher on Tuesday and continued to tick higher as the day progressed.

The Dow climbed 159.36 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 37,545.33, while the NASDAQ added 81.60 points or 0.54 percent to close at 15,074.57 and the S&P 500 rose 20.12 points or 0.42 percent to end at 4,774.75.

A surge by shares of Intel (INTC) provided a boost to the markets following news the Israeli government will give the company a $3.2 billion grant toward the construction of a new $25 billion chip-making facility in southern Israel.

Stocks also continued to benefit from optimism about the outlook for interest rates following last week's tamer-than-expected consumer price inflation data.

On the heels of the data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating a 72.7 percent chance the Federal Reserve will cut rates by a quarter point in March.

Oil prices surged higher Tuesday amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and concerns over trade disruptions following attacks on ships. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February jumped $2.01 or 2.7 percent at $75.57 a barrel.