Rebound Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 310 points or 1.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 21,960-point plateau although it figures to bounce higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses moved higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 310.84 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 21,960.83 after trading between 21,942.69 and 22,247.66.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial slumped 1.80 percent, while Mega Financial and E Sun Financial both lost 0.50 percent, CTBC Financial perked 0.16 percent, First Financial and Catcher Technology both sank 0.72 percent, Fubon Financial declined 1.55 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company surrendered 1.96 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.45 percent, Hon Hai Precision tanked 2.09 percent, Largan Precision improved 0.80 percent, MediaTek shed 0.68 percent, Delta Electronics stumbled 2.38 percent, Novatek Microelectronics dropped 0.92 percent, Formosa Plastics retreated 1.47 percent, Nan Ya Plastics tumbled 1.73 percent and Asia Cement perked 0.11 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened modestly higher on Wednesday but accelerated into the close, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 383.32 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 41,964.63, while the NASDAQ surged 246.67 points or 1.41 percent to close at 17,750.79 and the S&P 500 rallied 60.63 points or 1.08 percent to end at 5,675.29.

Stocks rallied early in the session and saw further upside following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The Fed announced its widely expected decision to again leave interest rates unchanged but signaled that it is still likely to lower rates later this year.

Meanwhile, Fed officials lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent.

Oil futures closed higher on Wednesday amid continued uncertainty about growth due to the impact of U.S. tariffs on some of its major trading partners. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.26 or 0.39 percent at $67.16 a barrel.

Closer to home, the de facto central bank in Taiwan will announce its decision on interest rates later today; currently, the benchmark sits at 2.00 percent. Also, Taiwan will see February figures for export orders; in January, orders were down 3.0 percent on year.