Taiwan Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in six straight sessions, collecting more than 1,170 points or 4.7 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 25,200-point plateau although it's overdue for profit taking on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little guidance ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses re likely to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials and cement stocks, weakness from the plastics and a mixed picture from the technology companies.

For the day, the index soared 337.41 points or 1.36 percent to finish at 25,192.59 after trading between 25,032.88 and 25,272.23.

Among the actives, Mega Financial collected 0.36 percent, while First Financial advanced 0.84 percent, Fubon Financial strengthened 1.39 percent, E Sun Financial fell 0.29 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.08 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.48 percent, Hon Hai Precision strengthened 1.20 percent, Largan Precision dropped 0.84 percent, Catcher Technology sank 0.79 percent, MediaTek retreated 1.32 percent, Delta Electronics surged 6.76 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 1.74 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 1.16 percent, Asia Cement rose 0.28 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial and Formosa Plastics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday and trended generally downward before finishing on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow stumbled 220.42 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 45,490.92, while the NASDAQ rose 6.57 points or 0.03 percent to close at 21,886.06 and the S&P 500 added 19.43 points or 0.30 percent to end at 6,532.04.

The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing a modest decrease in U.S. producer prices in August. The data added to recent optimism about the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates by at next week's monetary policy meeting.

Buying waned over the course of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of the Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation later today - which may also have a significant effect on the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil surged on Wednesday on geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Europe, along with inflation data from the U.S. that has reinforced interest rate cut expectations. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.07 or 1.71 percent at $63.70 per barrel.