Rally May Stall For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost 150 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 16,580-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat following the release of U.S. inflation data that offered little clarity for interest rates. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished slightly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials and cement companies, while the technology and plastic stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index picked up 8.80 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 16,581.51 after trading between 16,542.72 and 16,653.30.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial and E Sun Financial both rose 0.21 percent, while Mega Financial perked 0.14 percent, CTBC Financial rallied 1.44 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.48 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.55 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.64 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.40 percent, Largan Precision tumbled 1.71 percent, Catcher Technology declined 1.63 percent, MediaTek gained 0.55 percent, Delta Electronics fell 0.30 percent, Novatek Microelectronics climbed 1.04 percent, Formosa Plastics was down 0.12 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.44 percent, Asia Cement increased 0.13 percent, Taiwan Cement spiked 2.02 percent, China Steel gathered 0.19 percent and First Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, quickly plummeted and then recovered to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 70.46 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 34,575.53, while the NASDAQ added 39.97 points or 0.29 percent to close at 13,813.58 and the S&P 500 rose 5.54 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,467.44.

The choppy trading on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation in August. The report said the consumer price index climbed by 0.6 percent in August after inching up by 0.2 percent in July.

While the data reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next week, many economists feel the bigger than expected monthly increase in core prices leaves the door open for another rate hike before the end of the year.

Following the report, CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates a 97.0 percent chance the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next week. The outlook for November remains more mixed, however, with the FedWatch Tool indicating a 58.0 percent chance rates will remain unchanged and a 40.8 percent chance of another quarter-point rate hike.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday on worries about demand after data showed an unexpected jump in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October fell $0.32 or 0.4 percent at $88.52 a barrel.