Tech Shares May Boost Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market headed south again on Tuesday, one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 220 points or 0.8 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just shy of the 27,950-point plateau although it may find renewed support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mildly positive ahead of the U.S. interest rate decision later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished slightly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financials and plastics, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index dipped 44.52 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 27,949.11 after trading between 27,885.62 and 28,087.93.

Among the actives, Mega Financial shed 0.61 percent, while CTBC Financial tumbled 1.76 percent, First Financial retreated 1.38 percent, Fubon Financial slumped 1.30 percent, E Sun Financial dropped 0.99 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company fell 0.34 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation advanced 0.88 percent, Hon Hai Precision rallied 2.16 percent, Largan Precision declined 1.33 percent, Catcher Technology dipped 0.25 percent, MediaTek stumbled 1.50 percent, Delta Electronics added 0.47 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tanked 1.93 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.75 percent, Nan Ya Plastics contracted 1.86 percent, Asia Cement skidded 1.35 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending at fresh record closing highs.

The Dow climbed 161.78 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 47,706.37, while the NASDAQ jumped 190.04 points or 0.80 percent to close at 23,827.49 and the S&P added 15.73 points or 0.23 percent to end at 6,890.89.

The strength on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from recent upward momentum amid optimism about a potential trade deal between the U.S. and China.

However, traders seemed somewhat reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, traders will look to the accompanying statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Tuesday on news that OPEC is leaning toward another modest increase in production in December. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery plunged $1.32 or 2.2 percent to $59.99 a barrel.