Taiwan Stock Market May See Additional Support On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Taiwan stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 3,200 points or 7 percent. The Taiwan Stock Exchange sits just above the 44,230-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to solid earnings news. 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 with big gains among the technology stocks, while the financials and plastics also moved solidly to the upside.

For the day, the index skyrocketed 1,783.17 points or 4.20 percent to finish at the daily high of 44,232.87 after trading as low as 42,566.93.

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

The Dow jumped 385.38 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 52,224.64, while the NASDAQ advanced 329.13 points or 1.29 percent to end at 25,837.21 and the S&P 500 gained 65.92 points or 0.89 percent to close at 7,509.20.

A positive reaction to some of the latest earnings news inspired traders to pick up stocks such as 3M (MMM), General Motors (GM) and Novartis (NVS) at reduced levels.

Strength among technology stocks also contributed to the rally, as reflected by the jump by the tech-heavy NASDAQ, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index soaring 5.9 percent and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping 5.2 percent.

Crude oil prices spiked on Tuesday as the U.S. attacked Iran for the 10th straight day, reinforcing supply concerns due to the Strait of Hormuz crisis. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $1.77 or 2.13 percent at $85.00 per barrel.

Closer to home, Taiwan will release unemployment figures for June later today; in May, the jobless rate was 3.32 percent.