Taipei shares outlook: Higher on Wall St, U.S. surprise rate cut

TAIPEI (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices are expected to open higher with sentiment bolstered by the solid gains on Wall Street overnight after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced another surprise half percentage point interest rate cut, dealers said. 	    With the central bank expected to follow suit here, the market is set to benefit from expectations of a liquidity-driven rally alongside some indications that the worst may have been over on fundamental grounds, they said. 	    Yesterday, the weighted index closed up 76.66 points at 5,508.61 on turnover of 75.24 bln twd.	    Foreign institutions were net buyers of shares worth 3.68 bln twd, local investment trusts net buyers of 870.10 mln twd while brokers net buyers of 488.04 mln twd.	    "We should be able to have a rally this morning, a big one," National Securities head of institutional sales Oliver Fang said. 	    It would be unthinkable for domestic electronics shares not to move after the ADRs of TSMC and UMC both rallied by nearly 20 pct in line with the overnight upturn of U.S. technology shares, he said.	    Apart from the unexpected interest rate cut, investors have now taken note of key U.S. companies in both the 'old' and 'new' economy sectors reporting stronger-than-expected results and talking about a possible turnaround, he said.	    "Recent developments may prompt most people to change their recent wait-and-see stance. What results will be inevitably a liquidity-fuelled upturn not totally lacking in fundamental support." 

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