The stock market rose for the fifth straight day yesterday as overseas fund mangers bought financial and asset-related stocks after the government loosened its grip on cross-strait trade and investment.
Yesterday's gains would have been even more impressive if it hadn't been for profit-taking in the last half-hour of trading, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 25.4 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at 7,370.44 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Turnover was at the highest level in almost two years at NT$190.349 billion (US$6.015 billion).
For the week, the benchmark index rose 198.67 points, or 2.77 percent, in total, compared with a 1.11 percent increase last week, according to the stock exchange's tallies.
The growth momentum is expected to carry into next week as the market reflects a liquidity-driven performance, but technology shares may take over from financial stocks as the major drivers, an analyst said.
"Foreign investors are the major buyers of local shares. Financial stocks top their purchases because they are cheap," said Stevie Chou (周奇賢), a strategist at SinoPac Securities Corp (建華證券).
Overseas fund managers, which hold more than 30 percent of local stocks by value, yesterday bought a net NT$16.63 billion worth of local shares, bringing the total net purchase to NT$312.34 billion since early this year.
"We believe foreign investors still hold a bullish view on the local market," especially if cross-strait ties improve, Chou said.
Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控), Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) and Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) were the top three picks among foreign investors yesterday as concern over credit-card debts eased.
Shares of Taishin Financial were down 2 percent at NT$22.40 after the company said on Thursday that it plans to buy an additional 7.5 percent stake in Chang Hwa. Chang Hwa shares were up 1 percent to NT$22.45.
Tech shares with rosy prospects, such as those of manufacturers of memory chips and liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels, are likely to take over from financial and asset-related stocks next week to drive the local stock market, Chou said.
The TAIEX is expected to fluctuate between 7,100 and 7,500 points next week, he forecast.
In a report released on Thursday, Credit Suisse raised its year-end target for the TAIEX to 8,000 points, citing reduced political risks as a key factor to help lower equity costs.
"If cross-strait policies continue to improve, even slowly, the benefits should be greater for asset-related firms," the report read.
In the report, Credit Suisse downgraded the nation's technology sector to "underweight" from "market weight" because of high valuation, peaking data momentum and only mild gains on high expectations of positive growth.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
RSS