The Taiwan stock market has closed higher now in three straight trading days, collecting almost 80 points or 1.1 percent in that span. The Taiwan Stock Exchange closed just above the 7,450-point plateau, and now investors are expected to lock in gains when the market opens on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests more of the holding pattern the bourses have seen so far this week, ahead of Thursday's European Central Bank meeting and U.S. non-farm payroll data on Friday. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is widely expected to announce the details of his latest crisis-fighting measures after the ECB Governing Council meeting. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed, and the Asian markets are tipped to split the difference.
The TSE finished flat on Tuesday as gains from the paper, food, cement, plastic and technology stocks were offset by weakness from the finance, construction and textile sectors.
For the day, the index added 0.82 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 7,451.35 after trading between 7,440.03 and 7,479.01 on turnover of 71.10 billion Taiwan dollars.
Among the actives, AU Optronics jumped 3.91 percent and Chimei Innolux climbed 1.25 percent, while Mega Financial shed 1.55 percent, SinoPac Financial lost 1.69 percent and Hon Hai Precision Industry eased 0.11 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is inconclusive as Stocks overcame early weakness on Tuesday to finish the session with a mixed performance. Shares fell early in the session, giving back some of the gains posted late last week as investors entered this week in a cautious mood, with concerns resurfacing about the health of the global economy.
Investors initially reacted negatively to the latest batch of economic reports as U.S. manufacturing activity fell in August at the fastest pace since 2009.
The Institute for Supply Management's index of national factory activity fell to 49.6 in August from 49.8 in July. A reading below 50 indicates contraction in the manufacturing sector. Also, construction spending unexpectedly dropped 0.9 percent in July, following a 0.4 percent rise in June.
In corporate news, Canadian drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals has agreed to buy U.S.-based Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. The all-cash deal is valued at $2.6 billion as Valeant will pay Medicis $44.00 per share.
U.S. Steel has reached a tentative agreement on a three-year labor contract with the United Steelworkers union. The deal covers about 17,000 workers at its U.S. plants. USW members will vote on the agreement after they review the details over the next few weeks.
The major U.S. markets ended lower on Tuesday as the Dow dipped 0.42 percent to finish at 13,035.94, while the NASDAQ added 0.26 percent to end at 3,075.06 and the S&P 500 eased 0.12 percent to close at 1,404.94.
by RTT Staff Writer
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