Share prices closed down 2.28 percent yesterday on worries over whether Wall Street’s recent gains would be sustained amid rising inflation, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 159.19 points to 6,815.32, on turnover of NT$118.93 billion (US$3.91 billion). Decliners outnumbered gainers by 1,758 to 449 with 331 stocks unchanged.
The market opened higher after overnight gains on Wall Street, but profit-taking set in to erode early upside on fears of possible US market volatility with sentiment hurt by Merrill Lynch’s disappointing second quarter results, dealers said.
Selling focused on flat panel makers and memory chip manufacturers on concerns over their pricing power, they said.
“Once the index went up, investors scrambled to pocket money and run. Such movements reflected weak market confidence,” Capital Securities (群益證券) analyst Chen Yu-yu (陳育娛) said.
“The market is still haunted by lingering fears over a deteriorating US economy and high global energy prices,” he said.
Chen said he suspected selling largely came from foreign institutional investors and mounting margin calls.
“The market needs more time to digest selling pressure as the amount of margin trade remains high,” he said.
Concord Securities (康和證券) analyst Allen Lin said he expects the local bourse will move further downward until strong technical support surfaces at around key 6,500 points. For the week to yesterday, the weighted index closed down 429.44 points or 5.93 percent after a 0.23 percent increase a week earlier.
Average daily turnover stood at NT$105.63 billion, compared with NT$100.05 billion the previous week.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS