Taiwan Stock Market May Hand Back Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 250 points or 1.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 14,550-point plateau although figures to see renewed selling pressure on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative ahead of the FOMC's rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets finished firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index advanced 123.62 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 14,549.30 after trading between 14,461.39 and 14,558.72.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial collected 0.70 percent, while CTBC Financial increased 0.18 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.18 percent, First Financial fell 0.38 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.03 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.50 percent, Hon Hai Precision strengthened 1.40 percent, Largan Precision jumped 1.86 percent, Catcher Technology improved 1.44 percent, MediaTek rose 0.17 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.74 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 2.40 percent, Formosa Plastics gathered 0.70 percent, Nan Ya Plastics sank 0.30 percent, Asia Cement slid 0.38 percent, Taiwan Cement lost 0.64 percent and Mega Financial and E Sun Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened in the red on Tuesday and held their negative bias throughout the session.

The Dow plunged 313.45 points or 1.01 percent to finish at 30,706.23, while the NASDAQ sank 109.97 points or 0.95 percent to end at 11,425.05 and the S&P 500 tumbled 43.96 points or 1.13 percent to close at 3,855.93.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders were jittery ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision later today. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, although some see an outside chance for a 100-point rate hike.

Treasury yields saw further upside ahead of the Fed announcement, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note jumping to a new 11-year high.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported an unexpected spike in new residential construction in the U.S. in August, although the report also showed a steeper than expected slump in building permits.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Tuesday amid concerns about interest rate hikes and worries about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for October ended lower by $1.28 or 1.5 percent at $84.45 a barrel on expiration day.