Taiwan Shares Tipped To Open In The Green On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday halted the four-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 800 points or 3.6 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 22,280-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on bargain hunting and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the former lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the technology stocks, while the financials and plastics were mixed.

For the day, the index jumped 207.27 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 22,278.36 after trading between 22,153.61 and 22,391.47.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial added 0.91 percent, while Mega Financial shed 0.51 percent, First Financial perked 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.22 percent, E Sun Financial collected 0.52 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spiked 1.75 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation eased 0.11 percent, Hon Hai Precision climbed 1.19 percent, Largan Precision increased 0.76 percent, Catcher Technology advanced 0.97 percent, MediaTek rallied 1.81 percent, Delta Electronics surged 4.59 percent, Novatek Microelectronics jumped 1.87 percent, Formosa Plastics stumbled 2.05 percent, Nan Ya Plastics improved 0.89 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.11 percent and CTBC Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday before dipping and then rebounding to finally end mixed.

The Dow sank 82.55 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 41,350.93, while the NASDAQ rallied 212.35 points or 1.22 percent to close at 17,648.45 and the S&P 500 gained 27.23 points or 0.49 percent to end at 5,599.30.

The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of the closely watched Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased slightly less than expected in February.

The tamer-than-expected inflation data led to some optimism about the Federal Reserve resuming interest rate cuts in the near future.

Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as concerns about the impact of new trade policies continue to weigh on the markets.

Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed a smaller than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $1.43 or 2.16 percent at $67.68 a barrel.