Local shares closed up 1.9 percent yesterday, in line with neighboring markets, as buying was ignited by hopes that a stronger yuan would lift Asian currencies and lead to more foreign fund inflows into the region, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 142.45 points to close at 7,635.56, after moving between 7,562.25 and 7,645.71, on turnover of NT$108.31 billion (US$3.37 billion).
The market opened 1.37 percent higher on ample liquidity, and the momentum extended throughout the session as investors expected a stronger New Taiwan dollar would attract more foreign investment and further boost liquidity, dealers said.
A total of 2,487 stocks closed up, 711 were down and 269 were unchanged.
Construction stocks led gainers, with the sector closing up 4.1 percent. Other gainers included the financial sector (2.6 percent), food (2.4 percent) and cement (2.1 percent).
“It was a liquidity-driven market today. The gains in expanded turnover have made the local bourse technically healthier,” First Capital Management Ltd analyst Edward Chen said.
Chen said yesterday’s advance could encourage many institutional investors, who had been staying on the sidelines, “to buy and catch up with the gains.”
“There is still room for the index to go higher,” he said.
Chen said construction should be the biggest beneficiary of a rising local currency, as higher liquidity could lift property prices.
“Foreign institutional investors are likely to continue to add to their holdings in the sector after recent portfolio adjustments,” he said.
Kuo Yang Construction Co (國揚建設) rose 6.9 percent to NT$20.15, Goldsun Development and Construction Co (國產建設) advanced 6.08 percent to NT$13.95, and Cathay Real Estate Co (國泰建設) gained 4.41 percent to NT$11.85.
Domestic demand-oriented stocks closed mostly higher on expectations a rising yuan would boost consumption in China as many have investments across the Taiwan Strait, dealers said.
Wei-Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品) gained 3.01 percent to NT$37.60, Taiwan Cement Corp (台泥) rose 1.98 percent to NT$28.35 and Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co (正新橡膠) added 1.96 percent to NT$67.50.
Among financial stocks, Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金) closed up 3.47 percent at NT$17.90, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金) rose 3.04 percent to NT$49.15 and Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金) gained 2.30 percent to NT$37.85.
Also See: World stocks soar on yuan flexibility
The New Taiwan dollar is on the verge of overtaking the yuan as Asia’s best carry-trade target given its lower risk of interest-rate and currency volatility. A strategy of borrowing the New Taiwan dollar to invest in higher-yielding alternatives has generated the second-highest return over the past month among Asian currencies behind the yuan, based on the Sharpe ratio that measures risk-adjusted relative returns. The New Taiwan dollar may soon replace its Chinese peer as the region’s favored carry trade tool, analysts say, citing Beijing’s efforts to support the yuan that can create wild swings in borrowing costs. In contrast,
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
RSS