Higher Open Called For Taiwan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had declined more than 770 points or 2.4 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now sits just above the 33,830-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Wednesday

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside ahead of the U.S. monetary policy announcement later today. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The TSE finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and the technology stocks.

For the day, the index jumped 494.06 points or 1.48 percent to finish at 33,836.57 after trading between 33,380.84 and 34,008.70.

Among the actives, Mega Financial advanced 0.90 percent, while CTBC Financial jumped 1.93 percent, First Financial collected 0.87 percent, Fubon Financial rose 0.31 percent, E Sun Financial perked 0.16 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company vaulted 1.36 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation added 0.33 percent, Hon Hai Precision tumbled 2.08 percent, Largan Precision soared 4.12 percent, Catcher Technology gained 0.53 percent, MediaTek climbed 1.17 percent, Delta Electronics surged 5.88 percent, Novatek Microelectronics improved 0.66 percent, Formosa Plastics sank 0.85 percent, Nan Ya Plastics plunged 4.15 percent, Asia Cement dipped 0.14 percent and Cathay Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and remained in the green throughout the day, although off session highs.

The Dow added 46.85 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 46,993.26, while the NASDAQ climbed 105.35 points or 0.47 percent to end at 22,479.53 and the S&P 500 added 16.71 points or 0.25 percent to close at 6,716.09.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders attempted to shrug off the recent volatility shown by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions.

Crude oil prices surged Tuesday as Iran stepped up its attack on energy infrastructure in the Middle East in its war against the U.S. and Israel. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up $2.57 or 2.75 percent at $96.07 per barrel.

The Israeli military also said it had begun a "wide-scale wave of strikes" across Iran's capital and was also stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Traders were also reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will pay close attention to central bank officials' latest projections.