The TAIEX continued to rise for a second straight week last week, but analysts were divided about whether the benchmark index could return to the psychologically important level of 8,000 points in the near term.
Chang Shu-hui (張淑蕙), a fund manager at Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust Enterprise Co (保德信投信), said in a note on Friday that the TAIEX is likely to test the 8,000 level given that the average daily market turnover on the bourse was NT$110 billion (US$3.45 billion) last week.
The local market’s average daily turnover of about NT$110.8 billion in the first eight months of the year, however, was still 7.59 percent lower than the NT$119.9 billion it saw in the same period of last year, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s tallies showed.
Lee Hsiu-li (李秀利), an analyst at Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧), told the Broadcasting Corp of China (中廣) yesterday “a daily turnover of NT$150 billion” would present a better gauge if the market has the potential to gain a strong foothold at the 8,000 level.
Last week, the TAIEX increased 59.90 points, or 0.76 percent, to 7,890.11, after a 1.39 percent rise a week earlier, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The two consecutive weekly rises this month came after the bourse fell 1.86 percent last month amid concerns about the strength of the global economic recovery and demand for Taiwan’s tech exports.
Chang said she was confident in local stocks thanks to a slew of good corporate earnings released by listed companies over the last two weeks, but investors should still be cautious about the strength of consumer purchases in both the US and Europe ahead of the holiday season, she added.
Based on the stock exchange’s data, 112 of 1,280 listed companies posted record revenues for last month, led by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s biggest contract electronics maker, which said on Friday its sales surged to NT$214.81 billion last month, up 9.5 percent month-on-month and 98.46 percent year-on-year.
However, Kent Liu (劉宇衡), a fund manager at Taishin Securities Investment Trust Co (台新投信), said the market would continue its recent consolidation and stay rangebound because of a lack of sufficient upside momentum.
“In the near term, the market needs to hold up well above the 7,900-point level for it to start another bull run,” Liu said in a report released on Friday.
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