Taiwan Stock Market May See Additional Support

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Monday ended the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 360 points or 2.1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 17,000-point plateau and it's looking at another firm start on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with bargain hunting expected ahead of key inflation data later in the week. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were solidly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index advanced 152.32 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 16,996.00 after trading between 16,868.74 and 17,032.32.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial increased 0.32 percent, while Mega Financial advanced 0.88 percent, First Financial collected 0.70 percent, Fubon Financial climbed 1.08 percent, E Sun Financial gathered 0.78 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company improved 0.72 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation fell 0.22 percent, Hon Hai Precision retreated 1.35 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.23 percent, Catcher Technology rallied 1.44 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.55 percent, Novatek Microelectronics gained 0.59 percent, Formosa Plastics perked 0.24 percent, Nan Ya Plastics eased 0.14 percent, Taiwan Cement was up 0.80 percent, China Steel strengthened 0.71 percent and MediaTek, CTBC Financial and Asia Cement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and largely stayed that way, finishing firmly in the green.

The Dow jumped 407.51 points or 1.16 percent to finish at 35,473.13, while the NASDAQ climbed 85.16 points or 0.61 percent to close at 13,994.40 and the S&P 500 gained 40.41 points or 0.90 percent to end at 4,518.44.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street came as investors indulged in some bargain hunting after last week's losses.

The upside was measured, however, ahead of crucial reports on consumer and producer price inflation later in the week, which could affect the Federal Reserve's plan for interest rates.

Most economists expect another pause in interest rate hikes by the Fed next month, although the data has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for rates beyond that.

Oil futures settled lower on Monday, coming off the four-month highs they touched last week. The dollar's strength ahead of inflation data weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September shed $0.88 or 1.1 percent at $81.94 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will see July figures for imports, exports, trade balance and inflation later today. Imports are expected to tumble 25.0 percent on year after plunging 29.9 percent in June. Exports are seen lower by an annual 20.1 percent after sinking 23.4 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $5.64 billion, down from $5.96 billion.