Taiwan stocks are likely to stay firm in the week ahead if the Japanese yen and the New Taiwan dollar stabilize, analysts said Friday.
"Foreign institutional buying has been cautious in the past week because of the Taiwan dollar's steep fall against the US dollar triggered by the yen's weakness," said Capital Securities Corp (
"So once the New Taiwan dollar gains support from a stabilizing yen, we expect to see more interest from foreign institutions, which are generally optimistic about the market's outlook," he said.
But there would be pressure at 5,600 points in the near term, he said.
The yen's fall has sent the New Taiwan dollar to its lowest level in 15 years, dropping 0.5 percent over the week to close at 35.084 against the greenback on Friday.
"There's not much room for the currency to depreciate further," said a dealer at a local bank, who anticipated support at 35.30 in the short term.
In spite of the currency's weakness, the Taiwan stock index soared 289.04 points or 5.7 percent over the week to close at 5,398.28 on Friday prompted by gains on Wall Street and institutional year-end window-dressing.
Dresdner RCM Global Investors Securities Investment Consulting Co analyst Gary Chu, however, said the market was unlikely to sustain the current upturn as pressure from profit-taking had increased after recent gains.
"We expect the market to consolidate for a while before a fresh round of buying interest surfaces after the Lunar New Year [in mid-February]," Chu said.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
Tax revenue from securities transactions last month increased 41.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$30.3 billion (US$975.8 million), rising on an annual basis for the third consecutive month and marking the highest for the month of October as Taiwanese stocks continued to perform strongly, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday. Last month, the TAIEX surged 2,412.81 points, or 9.34 percent, marking its largest-ever monthly rise for October as market sentiment was buoyed by a nearly 15 percent gain in contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than 40 percent of the
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
RSS