Tech Shares May Weigh On Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, adding more than 660 points or 2 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 32,290-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is unclear, with technology stocks likely under pressure while oil, pharmaceutical and housing stocks offering support. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index improved 94.45 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 32,289.81 after trading between 31,942.28 and 32,380.00.

Among the actives, Mega Financial and Largan Precision both collected 0.64 percent, while CTBC Financial rose 0.20 percent, First Financial dipped 0.17 percent, Fubon Financial advanced 0.98 percent, E Sun Financial improved 0.90 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company sank 0.83 percent, Hon Hai Precision climbed 1.15 percent, Catcher Technology strengthened 1.49 percent, MediaTek added 0.28 percent, Delta Electronics shed 0.41 percent, Novatek Microelectronics tumbled 1.61 percent, Formosa Plastics soared 4.23 percent, Nan Ya Plastics surged 6.30 percent, Asia Cement jumped 1.74 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed but quickly diverged, finally finishing the session on opposite sides of the unchanged line.

The Dow rallied 260.31 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 49,501, while the NASDAQ tumbled 350.61 points or 1.51 percent to end at 22,904.58 and the S&P 500 sank 35.09 points or 0.51 percent to close at 6,882.72.

The advance by the Dow was fueled by stocks like Amgen (AMGN), 3M (MMM) and Nike (NKE), which saw better than expected quarterly results.

Meanwhile, traders continued to rotate out of the tech sector, dragging the NASDAQ lower as semiconductor stocks showed a substantial move to the downside.

In U.S. economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in January. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said its reading on U.S. service sector activity came in unchanged last month.

Crude oil prices surged on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said inventories in the U.S. fell far more than expected. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $1.97 or 3.12 percent at $65.18 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will provide January numbers for consumer prices later today; in December, overall inflation was up 0.14 percent on month and 1.31 percent on year.