Taiwan Shares May Crack Resistance At 50,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, climbing more than 2,150 points or 4.6 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 49,820-point plateau and it may see mild upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to softening oil prices and treasury yields. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the finance, technology and plastics sectors were capped by weakness among the communications and electronics companies.

For the day, the index gained 110.51 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 49,822.55 after trading between 49,479.69 and 49,968.92.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened modestly higher on Tuesday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow climbed 253.38 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 51,521.28, while the NASDAQ added 122.48 points or 0.45 percent to close at a record 27,599.79 and the S&P 500 gained 44.98 points or 0.58 percent to end at 7,818.93, also a record.

The early strength on Wall Street came amid a pullback by treasury yields, which retreated after recently surging to multi-decade highs.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting later. The minutes may shed additional light on Fed officials' thinking ahead of the central bank's next interest rate decision later this month.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed the U.S. trade deficit widened by more than expected in the month of August.

Crude oil prices came off of early lows but still ticked lower on Tuesday following reports that Middle East crude exports are recovering back up toward pre-war levels. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery dipped $0.18 or 0.2 percent at $89.25 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release September figures for consumer prices later today; in August, overall inflation was up 0.13 percent on month and 2.04 percent on year.