Tech Surge May Boost Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, climbing more than 220 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 16,950-point plateau although it's expected to open in the green again on Tuesday.

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 bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the technology stocks were capped by weakness from the financial, plastic and cement sectors.

For the day, the index improved 68.97 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 16,955.37 after trading between 16,899.49 and 16,999.72.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial declined 1.23 percent, while CTBC Financial retreated 1.59 percent, First Financial dipped 0.18 percent, E Sun Financial skidded 1.13 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 1.59 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.57 percent, Hon Hai Precision spiked 2.31 percent, Largan Precision perked 0.23 percent, Catcher Technology gained 0.52 percent, MediaTek rose 0.39 percent, Delta Electronics surged 4.02 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 1.73 percent, Formosa Plastics eased 0.21 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slid 0.25 percent, Asia Cement lost 0.56 percent, Taiwan Cement shed 0.52 percent, China Steel was down 0.34 percent and Mega Financial and Fubon Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened in the green on Monday and accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow climbed 189.55 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 34,066.33, while the NASDAQ rallied 202.78 points or 1.53 percent to end at 13,461.92 and the S&P 500 gained 40.07 points or 0.93 percent to close at 4,338.93.

The strength on Wall Street comes as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to pause its recent interest rate increases but is also likely to reiterate its commitment to bringing inflation down to its 2 percent target.

The Fed's accompanying statement is likely to have a significant impact on the outlook for rates along with some closely watched inflation data due to be released in the coming days.

Oil prices fell sharply Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand following a downward revision in the crude oil price forecast by Goldman Sachs. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July tumbled $3.05 or 4.4 percent at $67.12 a barrel, a three-month low.