Taiwanese investor sentiment plummeted this month due to the worsening economy, dragged down by record-high oil prices, as well as the mounting net sale of overseas investors in the local stock market, a poll reported yesterday.
Investors are pessimistic about the stock market outlook, making the confidence index drop to minus 38.9 points from minus 18.6 last month, according to a survey released by the Chinese-language weekly Business Today (今周刊) and Shih Hsin University yesterday.
SLOW RESULTS
"The negative sentiment is also related to the delaying of public companies' financial results in the first half of the year, which implies that many of them did perform well," Kuo Min-hua (
When asked if they will be able to reach their investment goal for the next three months of the year, 50.1 percent of respondents said it would be difficult to achieve their targets. This is why the index of investors' expectations for the next three month dropped to minus 4.8 points from 12.2 last month, the survey said.
On the local bourse yesterday, share prices closed flat with investors reluctant to take an aggressive stand as the nation braced itself for Typhoon Talim, which could force the market to close, dealers said. They said such caution disrupted an early attempt at a technical rebound in defiance of overnight declines on Wall Street, as crude oil prices set another record high.
TAIEX GAINS
The TAIEX closed up 1.35 points or 0.02 percent at 6,033.47, on turnover of NT$73.60 billion (US$2.25 billion).
Dealers said the benchmark index managed to return to positive territory at the close on last-minute buying of selected market bellwethers led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (
Rival United Microelectronics Corp (
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