The TAIEX yesterday jumped 2.53 percent to close at 10,137.87 points, breaching 10,000 points for the first time since Oct. 12, after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Saturday agreed to suspend new tariffs at the G20 meeting in Argentina.
The weighted index opened higher and rose to 10,055.41 points after two minutes of trading. It continued to climb throughout the session. It ended 249.84 points higher at 10,137.87, from its close of 9,888.03 on Friday.
Turnover was NT$166.84 billion (US$5.43 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$5.69 billion of local shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
With all sub-indices advancing, the rally was led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, which closed up 4.21 percent at NT$235.
Trump and Xi agreed to suspend any new tariffs for 90 days, providing room for negotiations, but the White House said that the 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods would leap to 25 percent if Beijing does not meet Washington’s demands in that time frame.
News of the ceasefire between the world’s two largest economies also boosted other Asian equity markets.
South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.67 percent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 1 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 2.55 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.57 percent.
“Many firms and investors were concerned about the 25 percent tariffs targeting US$200 billion of Chinese goods that were to kick in on Jan. 1. They are shelving orders and production plans, but the truce between the US and China eased their worries,” Xincheng International Investment Consultant (信誠環球投顧) analyst Chang Chih-cheng (張志誠) said.
Local equities are likely to continue rising until the Lunar New Year, but it would be difficult for the TAIEX to breach 11,000 points unless the US and China reach a final agreement, Chang said.
“The ceasefire agreement gave investors an opportunity to take a break, but we cannot rely on it, as the trade disputes will not be eased in the short term,” Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) executive vice president Michael Kuo (郭永宜) told the Taipei Times on the sidelines of an investment conference in Taipei.
“The trade dispute is like a cancer, which we do not know the biopsy result, if it is benign or malignant, but we can only learn how to deal with it,” Kuo said.
Fubon Securities Investment Services Co (富邦投顧) chairman Charles Hsiao (蕭乾祥) said that it is difficult for China to meet the US’ demands, as it is in conflict with China’s “Made in China 2025” policy, so investors still need to prepare for the worst, he added.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
RSS