Local shares on Friday closed above 9,800 points, as gains in the optoelectronics, cement and oil, gas and electricity sectors propelled shares higher.
The TAIEX on Friday closed up 46.91 points, or 0.48 percent, at 9,836.06 on turnover of NT$95.827 billion (US$3.11 billion). That was a increase of 0.8 percent from a close of 9,759.40 on Jan. 11.
Among the biggest gainers on Friday, Largan Precision Co (大立光), a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc, gained 7 percent to close at NT$3,785, while smartphone camera lens maker Genius Electronic Optical Co (玉晶光) rose 9.85 percent to close at NT$217.50.
The two lens makers led an overall 3.48 percent gain in optoelectronics shares.
Electronics heavyweights were mixed.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, closed 1 percent lower at NT$218.50, while iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) rose 0.57 percent to close at NT$70.80.
At an investors’ conference held by TSMC on Thursday, the company said that its consolidated sales for the first quarter could fall 22 percent from a quarter earlier because of a global economic slowdown and inventory adjustments in the industry, hurting the stock on Friday.
By sector, the bellwether electronics sector closed 0.45 percent higher, financial shares closed up 0.26 percent and cement stocks and oil, gas and electricity shares finished 1.29 percent higher.
Traders expect investors to stay on the sell side during the remaining trading sessions ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, which should push up trading volume.
Elsewhere on Friday, Asian markets rallied as another broadly positive week drew to a close, with investors cheered by a report that the US was considering lifting tariffs on China as officials look to hammer out a trade deal.
Optimism that the world’s top two economies are on course to reach a deal ending their trade row has helped boost equities across the world this year.
While news that the US was carrying out a criminal probe into Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) caused a wobble on Thursday, the rally resumed after the Wall Street Journal story on the lifting of tariffs broke.
The newspaper said that US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin had raised the idea with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer of removing some or all levies on Beijing in return for structural reforms.
It said that the move was part of a bid to reassure markets and bolster the odds of a bigger trade deal, ending a months-long saga that is beginning to affect economies worldwide, particularly China.
However, the US Department of the Treasury told reporters that no formal recommendation had been made by either Mnuchin or Lighthizer in the talks, which were “nowhere near completion.”
Still, investors remained upbeat.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng on Friday rose 335.18 points, or 1.3 percent, to 27,090.81, rising 1.6 percent from a close of 26,667.27 on Jan. 11.
The Shanghai Composite on Friday closed up 36.37 points, or 1.4 percent, at 2,596.01, a 1.7 percent jump from 2,553.83 a week earlier.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 on Friday gained 263.80, or 1.3 percent, to close at 20,666.07, an increase of 1.5 percent from a close of 20,359.70 on Jan. 11.
Seoul’s KOSPI rose 17.22 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,124.28, surging 2.3 percent from 2,075.57 a week earlier.
Sydney added 0.5 percent and Singapore put on 0.8 percent, while there were also advances in Wellington and Manila.
“The US government has said that there have been no formal talks to scale back tariffs, but the market saw the half glass full as the reports signal that concessions are in the works,” Oanda Corp senior market analyst Alfonso Esparza said.
However, there was skepticism among analysts, with the two sides still far apart on a number of issues, particularly regarding intellectual property.
“Certainly, evidence that the [US] administration is approaching a deal would be good news,” MacroPolicy Perspectives LLC senior economist Laura Rosner said. “We’ve heard noise around trade policy before though, so I would want to make sure the progress happens and sticks.”
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