The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, advancing nearly 300 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just above the 12,975-point plateau although it's expected to open under pressure on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower after the Federal Reserve downgraded its GDP forecast. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were mostly in the red and the Asian markets also figure to open lower.
The TSE finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and a mixed performance from the technology stocks.
For the day, the index climbed 131.11 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 12,976.76 after trading between 12,948.72 and 13,021.68.
Among the actives, Cathay Financial increased 0.25 percent, while Mega Financial collected 0.35 percent, CTBC Financial fell 0.26 percent, First Financial rose 0.24 percent, E Sun Financial gained 0.38 percent, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rallied 2.92 percent, United Microelectronics Corporation jumped 1.58 percent, Largan Precision plunged 2.60 percent, Catcher Technology skidded 1.32 percent, MediaTek advanced 0.98 percent, Hon Hai Precision and Formosa Plastic both shed 0.38 percent, Asia Cement was up 0.23 percent, Taiwan Cement gathered 0.35 percent and Fubon Financial was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests consolidation as stocks were unable to hold early gains on Wednesday, slipping mostly into the red in the final hour of trade.
The Dow added 36.78 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 28,032.38, while the NASDAQ plunged 139.86 points or 1.25 percent to end at 11,050.47 and the S&P 500 fell 15.71 points or 0.46 percent to close at 3,385.49.
The late-day pullback came despite a dovish monetary policy announcement by the Fed, with the central bank leaving interest rates unchanged and signaling rates are likely to remain at near-zero levels for years to come.
But the Fed also downwardly revised its estimates for GDP growth in 2021 and 2022 to 4.0 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively. GDP growth in 2023 was forecast at 2.5 percent.
The sharp drop by the NASDAQ came as big-name tech companies like Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon (AMZN) gave ground after solid gains a day earlier.
In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a slowdown in the pace of retail sales growth in August. Also, the National Association of Home Builders said homebuilder confidence jumped to a record high in September.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up $1.88 or 4.9 percent at $40.16 a barrel.
Closer to home, the de facto central bank in Taiwan will conclude its monetary policy meeting later today and announce its decision on interest rates; the bank is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 1.125 percent.
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