Taiwan Bourse May See Additional Support

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, accelerating almost 620 points or 2.9 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 21,620-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly positive on a slightly improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index surged 491.16 points or 2.32 percent to finish at the daily high of 21,618.09 after trading as low as 21,341.44.

Among the actives, Mega Financial climbed 1.14 percent, while First Financial collected 0.56 percent, Fubon Financial soared 4.19 percent, E Sun Financial was up 0.16 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company skyrocketed 4.21 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation stumbled 2.75 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.97 percent, Largan Precision surged 3.11 percent, Catcher Technology improved 0.71 percent, Delta Electronics spiked 2.50 percent, Novatek Microelectronics perked 0.10 percent, Formosa Plastics advanced 0.90 percent, Nan Ya Plastics strengthened 1.63 percent, Asia Cement dropped 0.96 percent and MediaTek, CTBC Financial and Cathay Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but gave back almost off of their gains to finish mixed and flat.

The Dow dropped 91.90 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 42,427.74, while the NASDAQ gained 61.53 points or 0.32 percent to close at 19,460.49 and the S&P 500 perked 0.44 points or 0.01 percent to end at 5,970.81.

The lackluster performance followed the release of some weaker than expected U.S. economic data. While the data raised concerns about the strength of the economy, it also generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP reported much weaker than expected private sector job growth in May. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said service sector activity in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted in May.

However, the Fed is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting later this month, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating a 95.6 percent chance the central bank will leave rates unchanged.

Crude oil futures moved to the downside during trading on Wednesday, reflecting easing supply concerns as rains slowed the growth of blazes that had disrupted Canadian crude production. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery fell $0.56 or 0 .9 percent to $62.85 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release May figures for consumer prices later today; in April, overall inflation was up 0.27 percent on month and 2.03 percent on year.