Asian stocks climbed for a second week, with the regional benchmark index posting its biggest weekly advance in two months, as US economic data bolstered confidence in the global recovery and Japan’s prime minister nominated an advocate of stimulus to head the central bank.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.9 percent to 134.70 this week, the biggest weekly advance since Jan. 4.
Taiwanese shares got a boost from further inflows of foreign funds on Friday to close nearly a percent higher at above the 7,900-point mark, dealers said.
The weighted index closed up 0.84 percent from Wednesday at 7,964.63 points.
The market was closed on Thursday for a holiday.
For the week, the TAIEX closed up 0.2 percent.
On Friday, old economy stocks, in particular in the food sector, attracted strong buying on their relatively low valuations, while select high-tech stocks, such as flat panel manufacturers, posted gains to push the index even higher, dealers said.
However, the market’s upward momentum slowed as the index moved closer to the nearest point of technical resistance at around 8,000 points, they said.
“The market was basically driven by high liquidity,” Concord Securities (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang said. “But as turnover failed to expand significantly, it was no surprise that the gains simply stalled before 8,000 points.”
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.9 percent this week, extending gains after capping a seven-month advance, the longest such streak since 2006.
South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.4 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 0.4 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 2 percent. China’s manufacturing expansion unexpectedly slowed last month ahead of a National People’s Congress next week that will set this year’s growth target.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index benchmark traded at 14.8 times estimated earnings compared with 13.7 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 12.4 for the STOXX Europe 600.
In other markets on Friday:
Manila skidded 1.18 percent, or 79.18 points, from Thursday to 6,642.27.
Wellington edged down 0.05 percent, or 2.02 points, to 4,317.99.
Mumbai rose 0.30 percent, or 56.98 points, to 18,918.52.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”