The TAIEX yesterday staged a 0.48 percent rebound, rising 49.34 points to close at 10,421.09 after Wall Street stabilized over the weekend.
Overall gains on the main bourse reached 10.3 percent in the Year of the Rooster, traders said.
The stock market closed for the Lunar New Year holiday after yesterday’s session and is to reopen on Wednesday next week for the Year of the Dog.
It was the first time the benchmark index closed above 10,000 points ahead of the Lunar New Year break, after reclaiming the yearly moving average amid global equity corrections, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
TAIEX market capitalization rose NT$3.36 trillion (US$114.3 billion) in the Year of Rooster, translating into gains of NT$336,000 for individual accounts, TWSE data showed.
“Investors had better remain on alert for important news across global markets, such as index adjustments by the closely tracked MSCI,” Forwin Securities Investment Consulting Co (豐銀投顧) analyst Lee Kuan-chin (李冠嶔) said.
The global index provider is due to release its quarterly index weighting tweaks today.
Heavyweight technology and plastic companies underpinned yesterday’s increase, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) advancing 1.72 percent to NT$236.5, outpacing the sector’s 1.39 percent increase.
The world’s largest contract chipmaker reported revenue of NT$79.74 billion for last month, up 4.1 percent from a year earlier, but slowing to the lowest in six months due to seasonality, company data showed.
The TSMC board when it meets today might decide on the company’s dividend payout for last year’s earnings, which is expected to be NT$8 per share, compared with NT$7 per share a year earlier, analysts said.
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) yesterday rose 3.27 percent to NT$101, beating the sector’s 2.28 percent increase, as a stable global economy continued to fuel demand for plastic products.
Turnover yesterday fell to NT$106.59 billion, compared with more than NT$200 billion a week earlier, as investors turned cautious ahead of the long holiday, analysts said.
Foreign institutional players trimmed more holdings in local shares by a net NT$19.38 billion, consistent with capital flights from emerging markets.
Taiwan saw fund outflows of US$2.8 billion last week alone, making it the hardest-hit of all emerging markets amid an ongoing equity correction.
The financial segment rose 1.07 percent, with Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) shares surging by the daily limit to NT$11.05, thanks to a record profit of NT$10.31 billion last month, which translated into earnings of NT$0.99 per share.
Analysts attributed the rise in Shin Kong shares mainly to the recognition of capital gains, allowing the life insurance-focused conglomerate to finish second among domestic financial holding companies in profitability, after Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控).
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