Taiwan Stock Market Likely To See Continued Strength

The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in four straight sessions, gathering almost 190 points or 1.1 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just beneath the 17,470-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. 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 slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the technology stocks were capped by weakness from the financial shares and plastics companies.

For the day, the index rose 18.30 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 17,468.93 after trading between 17,438.69 and 17,507.92.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial eased 0.11 percent, while Mega Financial skidded 1.02 percent, CTBC Financial collected 1.27 percent, First Financial dipped 0.36 percent, Fubon Financial fell 0.32 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.20 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company slid 0.17 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.60 percent, Largan Precision skyrocketed 6.53 percent, Catcher Technology climbed 1.08 percent, MediaTek jumped 1.70 percent, Delta Electronics gained 0.66 percent, Novatek Microelectronics added 0.58 percent, Formosa Plastics dropped 0.88 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plunged 2.20 percent, Asia Cement gathered 0.24 percent, Taiwan Cement lost 0.29 percent, China Steel slumped 1.18 percent and Hon Hai Precision was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages were flat for most of the day but surged in the afternoon following the Federal Reserve’s rate decision.

The Dow surged 512.30 points or 1.40 percent to finish at a record 37,090.24, while the NASDAQ rallied 200.57 points or 1.38 percent to end at 14,733.96 and the S&P 500 gained 63.39 points or 1.37 percent to close at 4,707.09.

The surge on Wall Street came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged while also confirming plans to pivot to cutting rates next year.

The accompanying statement said the decision came as economic growth has slowed from its strong pace in the third quarter, while inflation has eased over the past year.

The projections provided by the Fed also suggest the central bank will begin cutting rates next year, with the median forecast indicating rates will be lowered to 4.6 percent by the end of 2024.

Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.86 or 1.3 percent at $69.47 a barrel.

Closer to home, The central bank in Taiwan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting later today and then announce its decision on interest rates; the bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.875 percent.