The TAIEX is likely to rally when it reopens today, reflecting a worldwide uptick in trading over the Lunar New Year following the Greek decision to accept a loan extension from its eurozone partners, analysts said yesterday.
The main trading index closed up 0.35 percent to 9,529.51 on light turnover of NT$76.75 billion (US$2.42 billion) on Feb. 13, the last session before the Lunar New Year holidays, Taiwan Stock Exchange data show.
“The TAIEX is bound to rise, likely above the peak of 9,593 seen last year, with uncertainty at home and abroad lifting,” Taishin Securities Investment Advisory Co (台新投信) chairman Andy Wu (吳火生) said by telephone.
Debt-ridden Greece struck an agreement with its creditors on Friday for a four-month bailout.
The development sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 to record highs.
The local bourse would reflect the upturn when trading resumes today, but transactions would grow slowly given that another holiday is approaching, Wu said, referring to the 228 Memorial Day holiday on Saturday.
Domestic institutional investors, especially insurance companies and fund houses, would lend support and increase holdings after having trimmed positions before the holidays, Wu said.
Masterlink Securities Investment Advisory Corp (元富投顧) president Liu Kun-hsi (劉坤錫) was also positive, saying that the benchmark index might push the 9,600 mark, led by technology stocks.
Liu added that Apple Inc shares had climbed 14.62 percent over the past four weeks.
Local contract chipmakers, chip testers and other firms in its supply chain are set to benefit from the uptrend, he said.
Shares in developers and builders might stage a rebound now that the Ministry of Finance has proposed a much lighter capital gains tax on property transactions, Credit Suisse AG said.
“The 17 percent flat-rate tax is significantly less than the previous proposal of a progressive tax of up to 45 percent,” the company said in a research note.
Primasia Securities concurred, suggesting that the new income tax plans might provide a boost to property demand and to stock in developers and construction companies.
The property tax would only apply to properties purchased from next year onward and would replace the current special sales levy, which subjects houses resold within two years of purchase to a 15 percent tax of the trading price, regardless of capital gains or losses.
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