The National Stabilization Fund (NSF, 國安基金) is to be used to extend support for local shares for another quarter, a decision that yesterday helped the TAIEX to close up 0.63 percent after Saturday’s elections and Wall Street’s slump on Friday.
The National Stabilization Fund Committee reached the decision after meeting in Taipei for one-and-a-half hours, based on lingering international uncertainties, such as the drastic financial market volatility, oil price swings, China’s economic slowdown and possible further interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, Deputy Minister of Finance Wu Tang-chieh (吳當傑) said.
“The fund will continue to shore up local shares until its next meeting on April 15, but may pull out beforehand, if the financial situation at home and abroad shows steady signs of improvement,” Wu told reporters at noon.
The fund moved its quarterly meeting, which was scheduled for yesterday afternoon, to the morning because the Cabinet’s collective resignation called the fund’s legality into question, Wu said.
The fund, sized at NT$500 billion (US$14.78 billion at current exchange rates), has been in the market since August last year, playing a key role in the TAIEX’s 4.75 percent increase as of Friday, Wu said.
Taking cues from the US bourse, the TAIEX opened low and soon shed 130 points or 1.67 percent before staging a dramatic rebound at about 10am, Taiwan Stock Exchange data indicated.
Turnover remained modest at NT$80.97 billion, as foreign institutional players trimmed positions by NT$2.82 billion and mutual funds by a net NT$248.33 million.
“The topmost guidelines for investors these days are ‘caution, caution and caution’ as the power transition plays out,” Marbo Securities Consultant Co (萬寶證券投顧) analyst Winson Wang (王榮旭) said by telephone.
Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) insisted on stepping down after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lost Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections by a landslide.
President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who will not be inaugurated until May 20, has turned down President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) invitation to discuss the new Cabinet lineup.
The government is likely to be at a standstill for the next four months, leaving the financial markets directionless and vulnerable to external shocks, Wang said.
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday slipped NT$0.016 to finish at nearly a seven-year low of NT$33.818 against the US greenback in Taipei trading, as investors favor the US currency in times of uncertainty, dealers said.
The NT dollar is moving closer to the NT$34 defense with traders shy from speculating on the resistance level.
Combined turnover on the Taipei Foreign Exchange and Cosmos Foreign Exchange markets totaled US$857 million.
The stabilization fund has bought NT$19 billion worth of shares as of Friday and incurred NT$400 million in unrealized losses, Wu said.
Global bourses have taken a hit so far this year and TAIEX proved no exception with plunge of 6.91 percent, deeper than 4.2 percent fall experienced by its South Korean counterpart, Wu said.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS