US-led strikes against Afghanistan early Monday sent the nation's stock exchange down yesterday, dropping 65.11 points to close at 3,520.35.
Analysts say even with the impact of the war taken into consideration, it's likely the TAIEX may continue to fall if the military engagement is prolonged.
"If the war lasts very long, there is a possibility that the TAIEX could drop below 3,000 points," said Frederick Liu (劉友威), vice president at Prudential Securities Investment Trust Co (保誠投信).
"One important factor is that the impact of the war has been discounted in the past few weeks. Unless there is some breakthrough in the war, its impact on the Taiwan stock market should be limited," said Neal Stovicek, an analyst with National Securities Corp (
Market players scattered after the bombs fell in Afghanistan, with turnover reported at a comparatively low NT$26.6 billion.
Some late session buying drove the market up slightly before the close, triggering rumors that the four government funds stepped in to prevent the TAIEX from sliding further, a Chinese-language media report said.
President Chen Shui-bian (
The fund has a mandate to support shares whenever non-economic factors adversely influence the market.
The ministries of finance, economic affairs and transportation, as well as the central bank should also be prepared for any possible disruption in transportation, exports and imports, and financial markets, Chen said.
The stabilization fund had already received approval to step into the stock market last month should the US attack terrorists in Afghanistan, Vice Minister of Finance Lin Tzong-yeong (
Electronics and financial shares declined yesterday. As many as 40 electronics companies fell to their daily 7-percent down-limit. Dozens of financial shares also fell limit down.
Shares in the airline and freight sectors dropped an average of 4.4 percent. China Airlines Co (
Analysts say with the market nearing all-time lows, bargains may be in the works.
"I think blue chip IC foundries are about to bottom out. The price of United Microelectronics Co's (
Another analyst agreed with Stovicek.
"From a long-term point of view ... there may soon be some good investment opportunities," Liu said.
Meanwhile, a central bank official said it will do its best to maintain stability. Chou A-ting (
Chou made the comments after central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (
The impact of the US-led military actions on the NT dollar has so far been limited, Chou said.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
RSS