The stock market may move higher as trading resumes after the Lunar New Year holidays, as better-than-expected US stock markets and optimism about political tensions may boost investors' confidence, analysts said yesterday.
Political uncertainty and the implementation of a new accounting rule that requires Taiwanese companies to disclose potential asset impairment stemming from long-term investments, or decreased goodwill from mergers, put investors on the sidelines ahead of the holidays, they said.
But the cloud almost lifted after the appointment of new Premier Frank Hsieh (
"With those concerns removed, Taiwan's stock market should perform better, reversing the disappointing performance in January," said George Wu (
"There's a strong probability for the stock market to reopen higher," Wu said.
On top of the non-economic factors, Bill Lan (
Given the lack of bearish news emerging at home during the long holidays, Lan said the performance of the US markets was a key factor that would affect the local bourse in the new trading session.
"The US stock markets have exceeded our expectations during the past week," Lan said.
The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.75 percent last week on a four-year low in first jobless claims.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index finished up 0.20 percent for the week and the NASDAQ ended down 0.48 percent.
"That gives us confidence that the TAIEX will rebound in the middle term because of improvements in the political arena and in the industrial area," Lan said.
With more indicators for an industrial upcycle in the second quarter, Lan suggested investors buy foundry companies and thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-display panel suppliers.
Lan expected the TAIEX to bounce back in the range between 6,100 points and 6,400 points by the end of this month. The index inched 0.26 percent to 6034.6 points on Feb. 3, the last trading day before it closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.
As for other uncertainties that could hurt the local bourse, Lan said the new accounting rule will continue to cap the share prices of companies with more long-term investments, or underlying losses from mergers. But these influences were weakening, he said.
But pressure on the bourse may mount in March as the Chinese authorities are set to take up the anti-secession law at the National Peoples' Congress in an attempt to head off any declaration of independence by Taiwan, Lan said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last