Mild Upside Tipped For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 625 points or 3.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 16,050-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast is cautious ahead of the U.S. interest rate decision later today. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed, and the oversold Asian markets figure to see little movement ahead of the rate decision.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Tuesday following losses from the cement companies, gains from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 23.61 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 16,047.37 after trading between 15,869.06 and 16,067.80.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial lost 0.74 percent, while Mega Financial climbed 1.10 percent, CTBC Financial jumped 1.76 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.32 percent, First Financial strengthened 1.15 percent, E Sun Financial spiked 1.90 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.58 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation dropped 0.80 percent, Largan Precision declined 1.42 percent, Catcher Technology added 0.60 percent, MediaTek sank 0.79 percent, Delta Electronics rose 0.22 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.48 percent, Asia Cement dipped 0.11 percent, Taiwan Cement retreated 1.72 percent and Hon Hai Precision and Formosa Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky after the major averages shook off a higher open on Friday. The Dow and S&P quickly turned lower and stayed that way, while the NASDAQ bounced back and forth across the line to finish higher.

The Dow dropped 151.91 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 30,364.83, while the NASDAQ added 19.12 points or 0.18 percent to close at 10,828.35 and the S&P 500 dipped 14.15 points or 0.38 percent to end at 3,735.48.

The choppy trade on Wall Street comes ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

The Fed is expected to hike interest rates by 50 basis points, although forecasts are suggesting a 75-bp increase.

In economic news, the Labor Department said producer prices increased on a monthly basis but eased off a 21-year high annually.

Crude oil futures drifted lower Tuesday on reports of a likely proposal to impose a federal surtax on oil companies to curb rising inflation. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $2.00 or 1.7 percent at $118.93 a barrel.