Share prices closed down 1.02 percent yesterday as investors took profit from early gains ahead of the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 77.22 points to close at the day’s low of 7,423.57, off a high of 7,584.81. Turnover was NT$84.99 billion (US$2.63 billion).
The market opened 0.72 percent higher amid optimism over the economic outlook after Taiwan and China sign the trade pact. However, selling emerged later in the session, eroding the early gains as investors rushed to pocket recent profits, dealers said.
The food sector encountered the heaviest pressure, falling 2 percent. The financial sector closed down 1.8 percent, while the textile, plastic and chemical sector and the pulp and paper sector both fell 1.2 percent.
Cement shares dropped 1 percent, machinery and electronics stocks lost 0.7 percent and the construction sector shed 0.4 percent.
Foodmaker Uni-President Enterprises (統一企業) fell 1.52 percent to NT$35.55 and its competitor, AGV Products Corp (愛之味), dropped 2 percent to NT$12.25.
“While many investors have faith in the long term economic outlook after the signing of the ECFA with China, it was time for them to adjust their portfolios,” TLG Asset Management (台壽保投信) analyst Arch Shih (施博元) said.
“The reversal of the early gains was no surprise as the positive aspects of the trade pact have mostly been digested,” Shih said.
Taiwan and China signed the ECFA yesterday afternoon, after both sides finalized their lists of industries that would be eligible for tariff waivers and easy market access.
Shih said selling focused on stocks that have close business ties with China, as they have recently risen on high hopes that their bottom lines would be boosted by increasing cross-strait economic exchanges.
Among the financial stocks that scored the highest gains on Monday on hopes of easier market access to China, Hua Nan Financial yesterday fell 3.33 percent to NT$18.85 and Cathay Financial Holding Co (華南金控) dropped 2.2 percent to NT$49.
Shih said select high-tech stocks appeared resilient to the weakness of the broader market.
“It seems that funds are shifting back to the high-tech sector from old economy stocks. This sector may support the broader market in the short term,” he said.
This time was supposed to be different. The memorychip sector, famous for its boom-and-bust cycles, had changed its ways. A combination of more disciplined management and new markets for its products — including 5G technology and cloud services — would ensure that companies delivered more predictable earnings. Yet, less than a year after memory companies made such pronouncements, the US$160 billion industry is suffering one of its worst routs ever. There is a glut of the chips sitting in warehouses, customers are cutting orders and product prices have plunged. “The chip industry thought that suppliers were going to have better control,” said
Enimmune Corp (安特羅生技) has obtained marketing approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its EnVAX-A71 vaccine for enterovirus 71 (EV-71), becoming the nation’s first enterovirus vaccine completely made in Taiwan, it said yesterday. After spending 13 years and NT$1.5 billion (US$49.77 million) on the research and development of the vaccine, Enimmune plans to start manufacturing and marketing it by the end of March, the company said in a statement, without disclosing customer order figures. “It is possible that the vaccine would not be included in a national vaccination program initially, and consumers would need to pay for it themselves,” parent
Hon Hai Technology Group (鴻海科技集團), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, yesterday said it was confident that its performance would improve in the second half of this year. Investment plans related to electric vehicles (EVs) in different parts of the world are expected to gradually start coming to fruition, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told reporters after leading a new year’s prayer at the company’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城). Major challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war continue to affect the global economy. However, Liu said that he expects a turnaround in
‘BLUE OCEAN HIGHWAY’: The private cost of dredging is the main obstacle to having potentially thousands of new marine tourists make port calls, a marina operator said A company executive is betting big on marina development in Taiwan, as the government aims to boost the number of dedicated recreational yacht berths to 1,600 from 1,138 by 2025. Taiwan could make its dream of having thousands of sailboats and yachts make port calls in the country a reality by speeding up the construction of new marina berths, ARGO Yacht Club (亞果遊艇會) president Ho Yu-lin (侯佑霖) said. ARGO operates three marinas, in Kaohsiung, Penghu County and Tainan’s Anping District (安平). The 12-hectare Tainan Anping Yacht City is a members-only yacht club providing an array of amenities including restaurants and a hotel resort