Taiwan Stock Market May Add To Its Winnings On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in two straight sessions, climbing almost 170 points or 1 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 17,200-point plateau and it's expected move higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financials and cement companies, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index advanced 165.28 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 17,198.89 after trading between 17,061.88 and 17,270.20.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial improved 0.79 percent, while Mega Financial rose 0.38 percent, CTBC Financial increased 0.96 percent, First Financial climbed 1.07 percent, Fubon Financial collected 0.48 percent, E Sun Financial gathered 1.14 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 1.97 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation strengthened 1.33 percent, Hon Hai Precision soared 3.70 percent, Largan Precision shed 0.46 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.48 percent, Delta Electronics advanced 0.83 percent, Novatek Microelectronics gained 0.62 percent, Formosa Plastics eased 0.12 percent, Nan Ya Plastics lost 0.57 percent, Asia Cement rallied 2.09 percent, Taiwan Cement spiked 2.47 percent, China Steel fell 0.17 percent and Catcher Technology was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday but moved generally higher as the day progressed and ended in the green.

The Dow added 26.83 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 35,438.07, while the NASDAQ climbed 85.69 points or 0.61 percent to close at 14,144.56 and the S&P 500 rose 12.82 points or 0.28 percent to end at 4,567.46.

The higher close on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to the latest batch of earnings news from big-name companies such as 3M (MMM), chemical giant Dow Inc. (DOW) and General Electric (GE).

Traders also remain optimistic about the Federal Reserve wrapping up its recent series of interest rate hikes ahead of today's monetary policy decision. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points, but traders are hopeful the rate hike will be the last following recent encouraging inflation data.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board released a report showing U.S. consumer confidence improved more than expected in July.

Crude oil futures settled notably higher Tuesday on optimism about increased Chinese demand after policymakers pledged support to shore up growth in the world's second largest economy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September gained $0.89 or 1.1 percent at $79.63 a barrel, the highest settlement since mid-April.