Shares closed up 1.36 percent yesterday as gains in old-economy stocks offset concerns over Wall Street's lackluster showing, the weak US dollar and surging oil prices, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 122.25 points at 9,105.28, the highest closing level since the 9,182.60 posted on Aug. 9. Turnover was NT$137.74 billion (US$4.19 billion).
Risers led decliners 1,326 to 494, with 218 stocks unchanged.
Product price hikes spurred old-economy stocks such as cement and petrochemical shares. The central bank's rate hike of 12.50 basis points had only a muted impact as the move was in line with market expectations.
Alex Huang (
"Old-economy stocks outperformed on the back of a buying spree sparked by the upswing in [the price of] products such as cement and others," he said.
Huang said foreign investors were net buyers of local stocks over the past two sessions, encouraging investors to follow suit.
Pre-holiday caution ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival next week had been priced in previously, with fund managers lending support to their holdings before they close their books for the quarter, he said.
While the central bank's rate hike did not affect the equity market directly, it can help limit capital outflows by domestic investors, Huang said.
Looking ahead, developments on major overseas markets will serve as a bellwether for Taipei stocks when the local bourse resumes trading on Sept. 26 after the holidays on Monday and Tuesday, he said.
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
RSS