Taiwan Stock Market May Slip Back Beneath 15,00-Point Mark

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering more than 170 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 15,100-point plateau although it's likely to open under pressure on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on inflation and interest rate concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down on Wednesday and now the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index gained 141.81 points or 0.95 percent to finish at the daily high of 15,095.44 after trading as low as 14,874.33.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial perked 0.22 percent, while Mega Financial increased 1.27 percent, CTBC Financial climbed 1.08 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.17 percent, First Financial advanced 0.76 percent, E Sun Financial spiked 1.99 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 1.81 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation, strengthened 1.73 percent, Hon Hai Precision added 0.46 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.51 percent, Catcher Technology improved 1.37 percent, MediaTek rallied 1.52 percent, Delta Electronics shed 0.38 percent, Formosa Plastics dipped 0.22 percent, Nan Ya Plastics gathered 0.15 percent, Asia Cement accelerated 1.88 percent and Taiwan Cement was up 0.13 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off a positive open on Wednesday, hugging the line for much of the day before a late slide pushed them firmly into the red for the fourth straight session.

The Dow tumbled 280.44 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 31,510.43, while the NASDAQ slumped 66.93 points or 0.56 percent to close at 11,816.20 and the S&P 500 sank 31.16 points or 0.78 percent to end at 3,955.00.

The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about higher interest rates following some hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Exacerbating those concerns, Eurozone inflation hit a new record in August and added further pressure on the European Central Bank to tighten policy more aggressively as soon as next week.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said that private sector employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in August.

Crude oil prices saw further downside on Wednesday, extending recent losses on concerns about the outlook for the global economy after the Eurozone's record high inflation report. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery tumbled $2.09 or 2.3 percent to $89.55 a barrel.