The local stock market declined further to a five-month low yesterday as the government’s latest measures to prop up stock prices failed to arrest a slump in investor confidence amid escalating inflation fears.
Despite early gains, the benchmark TAIEX index dropped 0.33 percent, or 25.22 points, to 7,523.54 — the lowest since Jan. 31, when the bourse closed at 7,521 points. Turnover was 90.286 billion (US$2.97 billion).
“This tells us that the government’s measures have provided little support to the stock market. Investor confidence is collapsing because of rising worries about inflation following further oil price increases,” said Alex Huang (黃國偉), an assistant vice-president at Mega International Investment Services (兆豐國際投顧).
“We have begun seeing signs of panic sell-off in local shares,” Huang said.
On Saturday, the Cabinet said it had encouraged four major national funds and Taiwanese insurers — with a total of NT$8 trillion in capital — to buy local shares to help support stock prices.
“Local insurers invest to make profit. They will not cooperate with the government at the expense of their shareholders,” Huang said.
Seeing disappointing sales, Huang said local stock prices could drop to as low as 7,200 points in the next few trading sessions.
Defying the decline in the TAIEX yesterday, blue chips including chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科), flat-panel maker AU Optoelectronics Corp (友達光電) and handset maker High Tech Computer Corp (宏達電) climbed between 1.01 percent and 2.26 percent, ostensibly helped by the purchase of government funds, Huang said.
The government also encouraged local companies to buy back shares to prop up share prices after meeting overseas fund managers, brokerages, insurers and banks during the Saturday meeting.
Foreign fund managers sold an additional NT$1.19 billion net in local shares including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金) yesterday, down sharply from net sales of NT$10.44 billion on Friday.
“The nation’s [economic] situation is not that bad,” said Andrew Teng (鄧安瀾), who tracks the local bourse for Taiwan International Securities Corp (金鼎證券).
“Local investors are worried about rising global oil prices and concerned about the US economy [and its potential impact on the Taiwanese economy],” Teng said.
As uncertainty about global macroeconomics should dissipate in the near future, investors should show patience, Teng said.
Teng was optimistic about the state of the local bourse in the next three to six months on the back of government efforts to spur the economy, including measures to facilitate economic ties with China.
Shares of the nation’s biggest memory chip packager, Powertech Technology Inc (力成), rose 1.91 percent after the company said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese chip company Tera Probe Inc to form a joint venture and gain a stronger foothold in the new logic chip packaging market.
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