Shares closed slightly higher yesterday, as renewed anxiety over a possible interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve capped the market’s upside, dealers said.
Many investors also stayed on the sidelines amid concern over stiff technical resistance near the 10,000-point mark, which kept turnover low, they said.
The TAIEX ended up 12.31 points, or 0.12 percent, at 9,967.64, after moving between 9,938.96 and 9,973.76, on turnover of NT$74.32 billion (US$2.47 billion).
The market opened 7.4 points higher on follow-through buying from the previous day and rose to the day’s high early in the session before some selling emerged, as the index moved closer to 10,000 points, dealers said.
Amid thin turnover, large-cap stocks in the bellwether electronics sector, such as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), failed to extend their gains from recent sessions, they said.
“Looking at the quiet session today, it seemed that many investors were concerned that the Fed would raise interest rates soon, which would deter foreign investors from moving funds into the region,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang said.
While the Fed on Wednesday decided not to raise its key interest rates, the US central bank forecast faster growth for the US economy after a slow first quarter.
“That statement by the central bank hinted at higher interest rates,” Huang said.
As a result, expectations of a rate hike next month rose from 60 percent to 75 percent, he said, citing Wells Fargo.
Market sentiment was overshadowed by such fears, which prevented the main board from reaching 10,000 points, Huang said.
“With today’s low turnover, it is unlikely that the weighted index will challenge that point of stiff technical resistance,” Huang said. “Unless the trading volume reaches at least NT$100 billion, the market will unlikely be able to stand above 10,000 points.”
In the electronics sector, gains were limited as large-cap stocks stalled. It closed up 0.25 percent.
TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, ended unchanged at NT$198, with 22.09 million shares exchanging hands.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), an assembler of iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc, closed flat at NT$100.50, while Largan Precision Co (大立光), a smartphone camera lens supplier to Apple, fell 1 percent to end at NT$4,970, but remained the most expensive stock in the nation.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained