Tech Shares May Boost Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has tracked higher in wo straight sessions, improving more than 750 points or 3.3 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 23,025-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, supported by oil and technology stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, plastics stocks and cement companies, while the technology sector was mixed.

For the day, the index soared 290.53 points or 1.28 percent to finish at 23,027.46 after trading between 22,972.30 and 23,144.78.

Among the actives, Mega Financial jumped 1.90 percent, while First Financial and E Sun Financial both strengthened 1.65 percent, Fubon Financial collected 1.45 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company spiked 1.93 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation rose 0.45 percent, Hon Hai Precision perked 0.26 percent, Catcher Technology sank 0.74 percent, MediaTek added 0.38 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.64 percent, Novatek Microelectronics slumped 1.03 percent, Formosa Plastics accelerated 1.46 percent, Nan Ya Plastics improved 1.54 percent, Asia Cement gathered 1.40 percent and Cathay Financial, CTBC Financial and Largan Precision were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened slightly lower on Tuesday, although the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 were able to break into the green to record closing highs by the day's end.

The Dow sank 76.47 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 44,705.53, while the NASDAQ added 76.96 points or 0.40 percent to close at 19,480.91 and the S&P rose 2.73 points or 0.05 percent to end at 6,049.

A relatively light day on the U.S. economic front may have kept traders on the sidelines, although the Labor Department reported that job openings increased by more than expected in October.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on private sector employment, service sector activity and consumer sentiment as well as remarks by several Federal Reserve officials, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The data and remarks could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed's next monetary policy meeting later this month.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Tuesday on easing concerns about excess supply on hopes that OPEC will delay plans to return its production cuts by a few more months. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $1.84 or 2.7 percent at $69.94 a barrel.