Renewed Consolidation Called For Taiwan Bourse

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 110 points or 1 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 10,580-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft due to concerns over the outlook for interest rates and a drop in crude oil prices. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The TSE finished modestly higher on Thursday as the financial shares and technology stocks were mostly higher.

For the day, the index advanced 59.27 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 10,578.44 after trading between 10,493.95 and 10,603.08 on turnover of 119.56 billion Taiwan dollars.

Among the actives, Cathay Financial climbed 1.97 percent, while Fubon Financial collected 0.43 percent, Mega Financial fell 0.42 percent, Hon Hai Precision surged 4.13 percent, Largan Precision added 018 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shed 0.23 percent, Innolux gained 0.68 percent, Taiwan Steel tumbled 1.13 percent and China Steel gathered 0.20 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks moved lower on Thursday, with investors locking in gains following recent strength that saw the major averages hit record closing highs.

The Dow shed 53.36 points or 0.24 percent to 22,359.23, while the NASDAQ lost 33.35 points or 0.52 percent to 6,422.69 and the S&P fell 7.64 points or 0.30 percent to 2,500.60.

Traders continued to react to Wednesday's comments from the Federal Reserve, which maintained their so-called 'dot plot' of rate projections for this year and next, and strongly hinted at a December rate hike.

Also, the Fed said it will begin shrinking its bloated $4.5 trillion portfolio in October by allowing $10 billion in bonds to mature without replacing them.

Crude oil futures fell Thursday, trimming recent gains after the Federal Reserve suggested a rate hike is imminent. WTI light sweet crude oil was down 14 cents or 0.3 percent to $50.55/bbl on Nymex, easing from a six-week high.