Taiwan Stock Market May Extend Winning Streak

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in three straight sessions, gathering more than 750 points or 3.1 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 24,520-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, with strength likely from the oil and technology sectors. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to also move to the upside.

The TSE finished modestly higher again on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and plastics companies.

For the day, the index climbed 214.80 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 24,519.90 after trading between 24,410.08 and 24,539.88.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.33 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.50 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 1.61 percent, E Sun Financial dropped 0.89 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped 1.28 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation stumbled 2.03 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.48 percent, Largan Precision added 0.42 percent, Catcher Technology shed 0.52 percent, Delta Electronics surged 5.11 percent, Novatek Microelectronics improved 1.16 percent, Formosa Plastics tumbled 1.84 percent, Nan Ya Plastics climbed 1.01 percent, Asia Cement fell 0.40 percent and MediaTek, CTBC Financial and First Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but moved largely to the upside throughout the day and ended with modest gains.

The Dow climbed 147.16 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 45,565.23, while the NASDAQ added 45.87 points or 0.21 percent to close at 21,590.14 and the S&P 500 rose 15.46 points or 0.24 percent to end at a record 6,481.40.

The modest strength on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the release of highly anticipated earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA). After the markets closed, NVIDIA reported earnings that increased from the same period last year and beat estimates.

Traders were also reluctant to make big moves ahead of Friday's Commerce Department report on personal income and spending for July, which includes the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 87.2 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point at its next monetary policy meeting in September.

Crude oil surged on Wednesday after U.S. crude and gasoline inventories fell more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $0.83 or 1.33 percent at $64.08 per barrel.