TAIEX jumps 1.28 percent
The TAIEX closed up 1.28 percent yesterday, led by the high-tech and financial sectors, as bargain hunters turned active to take advantage of the heavy losses seen last week, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 113.48 points to end at 8,931.36 on turnover of NT$131.11 billion (US$4.5 billion).
Financial sector shares scored the highest gains, ending 1.53 percent higher, while machinery and electronic shares closed up 1.39 percent,
“I still expect the market needs some time to consolidate between 8,800 points and 9,000 points before a meaningful takeoff. So, I would like to say today’s gains were just technical in nature,” Mega Securities (兆豐證券) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
Huang said electronic stocks appeared attractive in terms of valuations, but concern regarding global demand remained in place.
“For trading purposes, the high-tech sector can be traded, but I prefer the financial sector, which is expected to benefit from their plans to expand business in the China market,” Huang said.
Among the IC stocks, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體) rose 6.88 percent to end at NT$34.20 and Siliconware Precision (矽品) added 5.78 percent to close at NT$34.80.
NT dollar hits 13-year high
The New Taiwan dollar rose to its strongest close since 1997 on speculation policymakers would tolerate appreciation to curb inflation.
The currency ended trading stronger than NT$30 per US dollar for the third straight day after months of suspected central bank intervention to guide it lower. Overseas investors purchased US$441 million more Taiwanese shares than they sold yesterday. Funds based abroad poured a net US$9.6 billion into the equities last year.
The NT dollar is appreciating “as there seems to be some sort of shift in the foreign-exchange policy,” said Daniel Hui, a currency strategist at HSBC Holdings PLC in Hong Kong. “Reserves, which rose rapidly in 2009 and in most of 2010, leveled off in the past couple of months.”
The NT dollar rose 0.3 percent to NT$29.70 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc, the strongest close since October 1997. It reached a 13-year intraday high of NT$29.08 on Dec. 30.
China Life invests in funds
China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) invested NT$500 million each in trust funds issued by Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust Co (復華投信) and First Securities Investment Trust Co (第一金證券投資信託), the Taipei-based insurer said in two statements to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Yearly tax revenue up 5.4%
Taiwan’s tax revenue last year rose 5.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.6 trillion, the finance ministry said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
Cathay Life wins land bid
Cathay Financial Holding Co’s (國泰金控) unit Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) won a bid to buy property in Taipei for NT$1.67 billion yesterday, DTZ Holdings PLC’s local unit said in an e-mailed statement.
MediaTek shares rise 3.4%
Shares of MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s largest integrated circuits designer, rose the most in more than five weeks in local trading after the stock was raised to “overweight” from “neutral” at JPMorgan Chase by equity analyst Alvin Kwock.
The stock jumped 3.4 percent to NT$398, the most since Dec. 3. JPMorgan set a nine-month target share price at NT$540.00.
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