Overbought Taiwan Shares Nonetheless Called Higher Again

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, climbing more than 2,050 points or 4.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 49,700-point plateau and it may see mild upside again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian market is cautiously optimistic thanks to easing crude oil prices and hopes for an end to the conflict in the Middle East. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks, plastics and petrochemicals.

For the day, the index rallied 1,236.30 points or 2.55 percent to finish at 49,712.04 after trading between 48,574.95 and 49,770.66.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened mixed on Monday but generally trended higher throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow added 90.94 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 51,267.90, while the NASDAQ jumped 286.45 points or 1.05 percent to end at a record 27,477.31 and the S&P 500 gained 51.23 points or 0.66 percent to close at 7,773.95.

The strength on Wall Street may partly have reflected easing concerns about the outlook for interest rates following last week's inflation and employment data.

On Wednesday, the Fed is scheduled to release the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting, which may shed additional light on the outlook for rates.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed a modest slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in September.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Monday amid indications that exports from the Middle East are returning to pre-war levels despite the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate for November delivery sank $1.21 or 1.3 percent to $89.90 a barrel.