Higher Open Called For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, rallying more than 910 points or 3.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 24,370-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to at least open in similar fashion, although profit taking may be in order later in the day.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks and a mixed picture from the plastics companies.

For the day, the index gained 211.66 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 24,370.02 after trading between 24,172.19 and 24,406.94.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial dipped 0.17 percent, while Mega Financial climbed 1.08 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.47 percent, First Financial advanced 1.05 percent, E Sun Financial rallied 2.56 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company strengthened 1.69 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.25 percent, Hon Hai Precision improved 0.76 percent, Largan Precision jumped 1.26 percent, Catcher Technology slumped 1.46 percent, MediaTek added 0.74 percent, Delta Electronics surged 5.14 percent, Novatek Microelectronics increased 1.39 percent, Formosa Plastics skidded 1.01 percent, Nan Ya Plastics accelerated 2.90 percent, Asia Cement gained 0.51 percent and Fubon Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and largely spent the day in positive territory.

The Dow surged 463.66 points or 1.04 percent to finish at 44,922.27, while the NASDAQ added 31.24 points or 0.14 percent to close at a record 21,713.14 and the S&P 500 rose 20.82 points or 0.32 percent to end at 6,466.58, also a record.

The early strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve following Tuesday's consumer price inflation data.

With the consumer price inflation data largely coming in line with economist estimates, the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by a least a quarter point next month.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 93.8 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points in September.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday after the International Energy Agency projected oversupply in the market this year due to surging supply from oil producers. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $0.55 or 0.87 percent at $62.62 per barrel.