Taiwan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the seven-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 750 points or 4.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 17,310-point plateau although it may recover some of those losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the plastic and cement sectors, while the financials and technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index sank 106.44 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 17,310.26 after trading between 17,264.95 and 17,344.53.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial rose 0.33 percent, while CTBC Financial collected 0.55 percent, First Financial slid 0.54 percent, Fubon Financial dipped 0.46 percent, E Sun Financial sank 0.78 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company retreated 1.37 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation shed 0.60 percent, Hon Hai Precision lost 0.49 percent, Largan Precision fell 0.45 percent, MediaTek jumped 1.73 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 0.97 percent, Novatek Microelectronics rallied 1.32 percent, Formosa Plastics declined 0.73 percent, Nan Ya Plastics stumbled 1.58 percent, Asia Cement eased 0.24 percent, Taiwan Cement skidded 1.02 percent, China Steel gained 0.39 percent and Catcher Technology and Mega Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and remained in the green throughout the session.

The Dow jumped 184.74 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 35,273.03, while the NASDAQ gained 65.88 points or 0.46 percent to end at 14,265.86 and the S&P 500 rose 18.43 points or 0.41 percent to close at 4,556.62.

The strength on Wall Street came as continued optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to renewed buying interest following the previous day's pullback.

While the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting failed to provide any indications the central bank plans to cut interest rates in the near future, CME Group's FedWatch Tool suggests the next move will be a rate cut in mid-2024.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week. Also, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods pulled back by much more than expected in October.

Crude oil futures settled lower Wednesday after data showed a notable increase in crude inventory in the U.S., and after OPEC postponed a key meeting by four days. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $0.67 or 0.86 percent at $77.10 a barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide October figures for industrial production later today; in September, production was down 6.72 percent on year.