Shares closed higher yesterday, but the TAIEX remained just short of the 10,000-point mark after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted local stock, led an upturn throughout the trading session, dealers said.
On the back of higher TSMC shares, the bellwether electronics sector moved higher and select old economy stocks, in particular the petrochemical sector, staged a technical rebound at a time when the local equity market remained awash with liquidity, they said.
The weighted index closed up 59.52 points, or 0.60 percent, at 9,972.49 points, after fluctuating between 9,918.39 and 9,976.61, on turnover of NT$98.35 billion (US$3.23 billion).
The market opened up 0.10 percent on follow-through buying from the previous session and momentum accelerated with large-cap stocks, such as TSMC, pushing the weighted index closer to 10,000 points at the end of trading, dealers said.
“It was a liquidity-driven session, as foreign investors kept moving funds into the nation, so they picked up market heavyweights to push the index higher today,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投信) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said, referring to the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback.
Huang said that the US Federal Reserve wrapping up its policymaking meeting last week hinting it would adopt a moderate pace in the execution of its interest rate increases this year effectively removed interest rate concerns from the market and made investors more willing to buy.
“TSMC made such a big leap amid ample liquidity today. Whenever the stock moves significantly higher, the broader market will follow,” Huang said.
TSMC shares rose 1.83 percent to close at NT$195, with 32.25 million shares changing hands. The significant gains boosted TSMC’s market capitalization to a new high of NT$5.05 trillion by the close of trading.
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