Lower Open Expected For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 310 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 22,270-point plateau although it figures to spin its wheels on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and plastic stocks, while the technology companies were mixed.

For the day, the index jumped 153.04 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 22,271.67 after trading between 22,186.42 and 22,327.10.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.76 percent, while Mega Financial added 0.63 percent, CTBC Financial perked 0.16 percent, First Financial and Nan Ya Plastics both improved 0.73 percent, Fubon Financial gained 0.44 percent, E Sun Financial rose 0.33 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was up 0.10 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation advanced 0.91 percent, Hon Hai Precision fell 0.30 percent, Largan Precision jumped 1.62 percent, Catcher Technology rallied 1.70 percent, MediaTek soared 3.51 percent, Delta Electronics strengthened 1.52 percent, Novatek Microelectronics increased 0.93 percent, Formosa Plastics gathered 0.62 percent and Asia Cement climbed 1.58 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 260.32 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 41,581.31, while the NASDAQ plunged 304.55 points or 1.71 percent to close at 17,504.12 and the S&P 500 sank 60.46 points or 1.07 percent to end at 5,614.66.

Concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump's trade policies continued to weigh along with worries about the economic outlook despite the release of some upbeat economic data.

The Federal Reserve said industrial production in the U.S. increased much more than expected in January. Also, the Commerce Department said new residential construction rebounded more than anticipated in February.

Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

Oil futures settled lower on Tuesday as concerns about supply disruptions eased, while worries about global growth due to the impact of U.S. trade tariffs weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $0.68 or 1 percent at $66.90 a barrel.