Most Asian markets bounced back yesterday on hopes that a US$700 billion bailout for the US financial system will soon win legislative approval, although doubts persisted about the outlook for the global economy.
The TAIEX index rose 44.73 points, or 0.78 percent, to 5,764.01 following a Wall Street rebound. On Tuesday, the benchmark index dropped 3.55 percent on disappointment that the US House of Representatives had rejected the bank rescue package.
The market opened high, but “investors were reluctant to push the prices higher,” said Young Wang of Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting (元大投顧). “Investors were still waiting for the final result of the US bailout package,” he said.
Anthony Huang of Taiwan Securities (台証證券) said investors remain uncertain about the package. And even if the bailout passes doubts remain about the future of Asian economies.
“Taiwan can’t be doing well if consumers in US and Europe are not spending enough.” Huang said.
Looking ahead, analysts said they expected the domestic market would not suffer further steep falls after the Taiwanese government adopted measures to stabilize prices, including a ban on short-selling for two weeks from yesterday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 108.40 points, or 0.96 percent, to close at 11,368.26. Markets in India and Australia also gained. But South Korea’s Kospi lost its earlier gains and fell 0.6 percent to 1,439.67.
Regional reaction was muted because several markets were closed for holidays, including those in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
In early European trading, markets were mixed. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 1.4 percent, but Germany’s DAX was down 0.1 percent.
Investors took heart from the rebound on Wall Street on Tuesday amid expectations that lawmakers will salvage the rescue plan aimed at cleaning up the bad debt mess at banks and other financial institutions. The US Senate will vote today on a revised bailout plan, with a House revote expected later in the week. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average surged nearly 500 points after plunging 777 points on Monday.
But analysts warned that new worries were already starting to emerge about possible compromises that might be included in a reworked emergency package, raising questions about how effective it may be when implemented.
“The market is already expecting the plan to pass. The question now is what’s next,” said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co in Tokyo.
Investors are still concerned about declining US housing prices and the overall US economy — a vital export market for Asia — especially as they look ahead to the Christmas shopping season.
Major Japanese companies, including electronics and autos, are counting on solid exports to the US to keep up profits, Fujito said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has secured three construction permits for its plan to build a state-of-the-art A14 wafer fab in Taichung, and is likely to start construction soon, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, Wang Chun-chieh (王俊傑), deputy director general of the science park bureau, said the world’s largest contract chipmaker has received three construction permits — one to build a fab to roll out sophisticated chips, another to build a central utility plant to provide water and electricity for the facility and the other to build three office buildings. With the three permits, TSMC
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
RSS