Stocks jumped 157.42 points yesterday to close at the highest level since March 19, despite Saturday's violent demonstration and an unexpected power failure in the nation's Silicon Valley on the same day.
Analysts attributed the surge to strong corporate earnings reports and investors' hope that no further major protests will be staged before May 20.
The TAIEX rose 2.38 percent to 6777.78, with gainers beating decliners 803 to 78, while 94 stocks ended unchanged.
The turnover was NT$156.55 billion.
Overseas investors bought a net of NT$3.71 billion, while domestic investment-trust investors and proprietary traders bought a net NT$3.89 billion, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
"Stocks rallied on optimism that the political clouds have gradually been clearing up, and investor confidence is further bolstered by solid fundamen-tals," Jones Wang (
More than 120 people were injured in the clashes between protesters and police on Saturday, while some 300 high-tech companies in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park suffered an unexpected blackout, causing an estimated loss of NT$1.5 million.
Wang said the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Central Executive Committee conference on Saturday proved that the party has the required attitude for long-term rule.
Also, the forensic specialist Henry Lee's (李昌鈺) investigation into the assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) has helped reduce investors' distrust, Wang added.
Dave Chou (周顯黎), an assistant manager at Yuanta Core Pacific Capital Management, said that, as political variables are gradually diminishing and the power outage in the Hsinchu Science Park only had a temporary impact, there should be another reason behind the gains.
"The first-quarter corporate earnings reports are generally better than expected. I believe this is the major reason for today's [yesterday's] rosy performance," Chou said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co, the world's largest made-to-order chipmaker, closed NT$1.00 higher at NT$61.00. The company is slated to report its first-quarter profit on April 30.
Robust gains in electronics and flat-panel stocks led the rise in the local bourse.
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp, the nation's third-largest maker of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), edged NT$0.6 higher to NT$38.6.
Quanta Display Inc, a flat-panel maker, advanced NT$1.8, or 6.7 percent, to NT$28.8, while AU Optronics Corp, the world's third-largest flat-panel display maker, surged NT$4.5, or 6.9 percent, to NT$69.5.
While some investors viewed yesterday's strong stock showing as a surprise, Allen Tseng (曾炎裕), an associate manager of Capital Securities Corp, didn't think so.
"The TAIEX initially rocketed by around 100 points after the market opened, but the rising power did not continue and the bourse closed with an increase of 157.42 points," Tseng said.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
HIGH-TECH DEAL: Chipmakers that expand in the US would be able to import up to 2.5 times their new capacity with no extra tariffs during an approved construction period Taiwan aims to build a “democratic” high-tech supply chain with the US and form a strategic artificial intelligence (AI) partnership under the new tariffs deal it sealed with Washington last week, Taipei’s top negotiator in the talks said yesterday. US President Donald Trump has pushed Taiwan, a major producer of semiconductors which runs a large trade surplus with the US, to invest more in the US, specifically in chips that power AI. Under the terms of the long-negotiated deal, chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) that expand US production would incur a lower tariff on semiconductors or related manufacturing
RSS