Rebound Anticipated For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 750 points or 5.2 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 15,265-point plateau although it's likely to bounce higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and accompanying statement later today. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial, cement and plastic sectors, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index slumped 228.62 points or 1.48 percent to finish at the daily low of 15,265.20 after peaking at 15,441.98.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial fell 0.35 percent, while Mega Financial tumbled 1.99 percent, CTBC Financial declined 1.51 percent, Fubon Financial skidded 1.31 percent, First Financial plunged 2.97 percent, E Sun Financial slumped 1.61 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plunged 3.87 percent, Hon Hai Precision jumped 1.63 percent, Largan Precision retreated 1.85 percent, MediaTek tanked 2.84 percent, Delta Electronics perked 0.17 percent, Novatek Microelectronics climbed 1.14 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.78 percent, Nan Ya Plastics surrendered 2.08 percent, Asia Cement weakened 1.86 percent, Taiwan Cement stumbled 1.89 percent and United Microelectronics Corporation and Catcher Technology were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened roughly flat on Tuesday but moved steadily higher as the day progressed.

The Dow climbed 368.95 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 34,086.04, while the NASDAQ jumped 190.74 points or 1.67 percent to close at 11,584.55 and the S&P 500 advanced 58.83 points or 1.46 percent to end at 4,076.60.

Recent data has reinforced the view that the central bank will likely slow the pace of its monetary policy tightening later today and raise interest rate by only 25 basis points.

The central bank's accompanying statement will be in focus for clues about further interest rate hikes.

In economic news, the Labor Department said employment cost index wages in the U.S. increased at a slower pace in Q4, while the Institute for Supply Management said the Chicago PMI contracted for the fifth straight month.

Crude oil futures moved higher on Tuesday on expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at a slower pace, so the greenback might strengthen less than expected. West Texas International Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.97 or 1.3 percent at $78.87 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide December data for industrial production later today; in November, output was down 4.93 percent on year.