Taiwan Bourse May Be Stuck In Neutral On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 170 points or 1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 17,160-point plateau and it figures to see little movement on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as investors digest Wednesday's FOMC rate decision. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Wednesday as losses from the technology stocks were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index dipped 36.34 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 17,162.55 after trading between 17,121.99 and 17,247.02.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial jumped 1.80 percent, while Mega Financial strengthened 1.28 percent, CTBC Financial collected 0.57 percent, First Financial climbed 1.23 percent, Fubon Financial soared 2.54 percent, E Sun Financial spiked 1.51 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.53 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation retreated 1.20 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.45 percent, Largan Precision tumbled 2.06 percent, Catcher Technology rose 0.28 percent, MediaTek declined 1.50 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 0.96 percent, Novatek Microelectronics fell 0.37 percent, Formosa Plastics rallied 1.10 percent, Nan Ya Plastics added 0.57 percent, Asia Cement surged 2.82 percent, Taiwan Cement slid 0.40 percent and China Steel gained 0.71 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but recovered enough to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow gained 82.05 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 35,520.12, while the NASDAQ fell 17.27 points or 0.12 percent to close at 14,127.28 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.71 points or 0.02 percent to end at 4,566.75.

The late-day action came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to resume raising interest following a pause last month, raising the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points from 5.25 to 5.50 percent. With the increase, the midpoint of the target range is the highest since early 2001.

The decision to increase rates came as the Fed noted inflation remains elevated, while U.S. economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace and job gains have been robust in recent months.

In his post-meeting press conference Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it is possible the central bank could raise rates again in September or hold steady, noting the central bank plans to take a meeting by meeting approach.

Crude oil prices fell Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a smaller than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September fell $0.85 or 1.1 percent at $78.78 a barrel.