(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Wednesday halted the two-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 100 points or 0.5 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 20,200-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The TSE finished modestly higher on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the plastics and cement companies were soft.
For the day, the index advanced 73.63 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 20,200.12 after trading between 20,108.96 and 20,255.10.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial fell 0.31 percent, while Mega Financial eased 0.12 percent, CTBC Financial rallied 2.53 percent, First Financial slid 0.36 percent, Fubon Financial perked 0.29 percent, E Sun Financial shed 0.55 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company lost 0.38 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation sank 0.39 percent, Hon Hai Precision soared 3.48 percent, Largan Precision rose 0.21 percent, Catcher Technology jumped 1.67 percent, MediaTek spiked 3.10 percent, Delta Electronics dropped 0.58 percent, Novatek Microelectronics strengthened 1.37 percent, Formosa Plastics skidded 1.15 percent, Nan Ya Plastics slumped 0.71 percent, Asia Cement tumbled 2.06 percent, Taiwan Cement was down 0.41 percent and China Steel weakened 0.42 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and largely stayed that way throughout the session.
The Dow surged 477.75 points or 1.22 percent to finish at 39,760.08, while the NASDAQ rallied 83.82 points or 0.51 percent to close at 16,399.52 and the S&P 500 gained 44.91 points or 0.86 percent to end at 5,248.49.
The strength on Wall Street came as traders again looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels after the previous day's mediocre performance.
A decrease by treasury yields also contributed to the strength in the markets amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last week. While the Fed left interest rates unchanged, as expected, officials kept their forecast for three rate cuts this year.
Crude oil prices dropped on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.27 or 0.33 percent at $81.35 a barrel.
The markets are closed on Good Friday.
