Shares closed higher yesterday, the last trading session of the lunar Year of the Monkey, as the market was driven by ample liquidity, with foreign investors continuing to move funds into the local market, dealers said.
Buying focused on select large-cap stocks, in particular smartphone camera lens supplier Largan Precision Co (大立光), as well as shares in the petrochemical sector, which pushed the TAIEX higher after the local main board breached the 9,400-point mark on Monday, the dealers said.
The TAIEX ended up 23.9 points, or 0.25 percent, at 9,447.95, after moving between 9,416.06 and 9,468.34, on turnover of NT$84.925 billion (US$2.706 billion).
The market opened down 1 point and fell to the day’s low on a mild technical correction from a 0.99 percent increase seen a session earlier as investors took cues from a lackluster Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.14 percent and the S&P 500 lost 0.27 percent overnight, the dealers said.
Buying on the TAIEX re-emerged at about 9:15am as investors picked up market heavyweights, helping the index return to positive territory on the back of a stronger New Taiwan dollar at a time when foreign investors continued to remit funds into Taiwan, they said.
For the Year of the Monkey, which ends on Friday, the weighted index soared 1,384.95 points.
The local equity market is closed from tomorrow until Wednesday next week for the Lunar New Year holiday.
The first trading session of the Year of the Rooster will be on Thursday next week.
“It was a liquidity-driven session today as the US dollar weakened, prompting foreign investors to move funds into the region amid fears that US President Donald Trump’s trade protectionism will push down the greenback,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投信) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
“The room for the gains was limited, as there has been strong technical resistance ahead of the 9,500-point mark,” Huang said. “Today’s [yesterday’s] expanded turnover showed that some appeared willing to buy, while others rushed to cut their holdings amid uncertainty over the global economy after Trump took power last week.”
Huang said that cautious market sentiment reflected worries about possible negative leads emerging during the holiday, referring to a policymaking meeting scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week by the US Federal Reserve and an investors’ conference planned by Apple Inc for Tuesday.
“More importantly, after Trump signed an executive order on Monday to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, many investors have been anxious about what will be next from the new US administration,” Huang said.
Huang said that Largan, a supplier to Apple, continued to move higher, serving as a driver to the market’s gains yesterday.
Largan is one of the favorites of foreign institutional investors and only institutional investors can afford to buy the most expensive stock in Taiwan.
Largan rose 2.18 percent to close at NT$4,450 yesterday after a 0.8 percent increase on Monday.
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