Mild Upside Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, climbing more than 500 points or 3.1 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 17,240-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged but said more rate hikes were likely before the end of the year. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished slightly higher on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the technology stocks.

For the day, the index rose 21.54 point or 0.13 percent to finish at 17,238.14 after trading between 17,182.18 and 17,259.23.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 1.13 percent, while Mega Financial lost 0.66 percent, CTBC Financial slid 0.20 percent, First Financial dipped 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial strengthened 1.15 percent, E Sun Financial eased 0.19 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.51 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.56 percent, Largan Precision climbed 1.12 percent, Catcher Technology tumbled 2.06 percent, MediaTek perked 0.13 percent, Delta Electronics soared 2.92 percent, Novatek Microelectronics retreated 1.29 percent, Formosa Plastics was up 0.11 percent, Taiwan Cement rose 0.26 percent, China Steel gained 0.17 percent and Hon Hai Precision, Nan Ya Plastics and Asia Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed, tumbled after the Fed's policy statement but then rebounded to finish on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow slumped 232.79 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 33,979.33, while the NASDAQ added 53.16 points or 0.39 percent to close at 13,626.48 and the S&P 500 rose 3.58 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,372.59.

The late-day volatility came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to pause its interest rate increases following 10 consecutive rate hikes but also forecast additional increases later this year.

However, the central bank's latest projections suggest the Fed plans to resume raising rates later this year, forecasting a rate of 5.6 percent by the end of 2023.

The forecast for additional rate hikes this year comes as the Fed raised its forecast for annual core consumer price growth to 3.9 percent from 3.6 percent.

Crude oil prices pared early gains and drifted lower Wednesday after data showed a notable increase in U.S. crude inventories last week, while a stronger greenback also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $1.15 or 1.7 percent at $68.27 a barrel.

Closer to home, the central bank in Taiwan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting later today and announce its decision on interest rates. The bank is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.875 percent.