(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market has moved higher in back-to-back trading days, gathering almost 40 point or 0.3 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 11,335-point plateau although the rally may stall on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.
The TSE finished slightly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.
For the day, the index perked 18.85 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 11,333.87 after trading between 11,292.83 and 11,373.95.
Among the actives, E Sun Financial and Cathay Financial both collected 0.37 percent, while Mega Financial added 0.34 percent, CTBC Financial rose 0.24 percent, Fubon Financial gained 0.33 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company climbed 1.36 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 1.75 percent, Delta Electronic plummeted 4.63 percent, Hon Hai Precision advanced 0.87 percent, Largan Precision shed 0.35 percent, Catcher Technology lost 0.58 percent, MediaTek perked 1.55 percent, Taiwan Cement slid 0.25 percent and First Financial and Asia Cement were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as stocks showed a lack of direction on Tuesday, as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Fed's rate decision and statement.
The Dow shed 19.26 points or 0.07 percent to end at 27,071.46, while the NASDAQ lost 49.13 points or 0.59 percent to 8,276.85 and the S&P 500 fell 2.53 points or 0.08 percent to 3,036.89.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a wait-and-see approach even though the Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates by another quarter point.
Some negative sentiment was generated by reports suggesting a phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China may not be signed by the summit in Chile next month.
A mixed reaction to the latest batch of earnings news also contributed to the lackluster performance, with a notable drop by Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) weighing on the tech-heavy NASDAQ.
In economic news, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence unexpectedly edged lower in October. Also, the National Association of Realtors showed another significant increase in pending home sales in the U.S. in September.
Crude oil futures edged lower on Tuesday amid expectations that data from Energy Information Administration (EIA) will show a jump in crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December fell $0.27 or 0.5 percent at $55.54 a barrel, the lowest settlement in a week.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
