Taiwan Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 675 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 26,250-point plateau although it's expected to be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on rising ambiguity over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology stocks and a mixed picture from the financial shares.

For the day, the index rallied 366.77 points or 1.42 percent to finish at 26,247.37 after trading between 26,041.69 and 26,307.30.

Among the actives, Mega Financial rose 0.24 percent, while Fubon Financial perked 0.16 percent, E Sun Financial skidded 1.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 3.47 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 1.97 percent, Hon Hai Precision spiked 2.31 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.53 percent, MediaTek stumbled 2.14 percent, Delta Electronics retreated 1.54 percent, Novatek Microelectronics strengthened 1.49 percent, Formosa Plastics dipped 0.13 percent, Nan Ya Plastics tumbled 1.85 percent, Asia Cement sank 0.54 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial, First Financial and Largan Precision were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 88.76 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 46,292.78, while the NASDAQ shed 215.50 points or 0.95 percent to end at 22,573.47 and the S&P 500 sank 36.83 points or 0.55 percent to close at 6,656.92.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street may partly have reflected concerns that stocks are overvalued following comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Speaking at an event Rhode Island, Powell described equity prices as "fairly highly valued" following the recent run to record highs.

Powell also addressed the outlook for monetary policy, noting that the Fed is facing a "challenging situation" as near-term risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday as Iraq's earlier-announced plans to export oil to Turkey from Kurdistan stalled due to payment issues. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.26 or 2.02 percent at $63.54 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release August figures for industrial production later today; in July, production spiked 18.11 percent on year.