The TAIEX closed 0.47 percent higher yesterday, the last trading day before the Lunar New Year holiday, with the benchmark index rising 43.02 points to close out the Year of the Tiger at 9,145.35 — its highest closing since May 2008.
A total of 4.83 billion shares changed hands on turnover of NT$143.05 billion (US$4.93 billion), up from NT$140.69 billion on Thursday. Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net buyers of NT$8.97 billion in shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
This was the 12th consecutive year the TAIEX ended higher on the last trading day of the lunar year. For the whole of the Year of the Tiger, the index rose 1,703.51 points, or 22.89 percent, from the Year of the Ox.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Total stock market value increased NT$5.05 trillion, or 26.35 percent, to NT$24.23 trillion this lunar year compared with a year ago.
The market opened higher yesterday and sustained the momentum throughout the session, bolstered mainly by gains in petrochemicals, technology and financial stocks.
“Investors chased petrochemical and DRAM stocks upward to reflect rising product prices,” Sino-Pac Securities Corp (永豐金證券) said in a note yesterday.
The share prices of members of the Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s biggest diversified industrial conglomerate, all rose yesterday, with Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化纖) ending the day at the limit, at NT$106. Two DRAM makers, Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) and Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技), also closed limit-up at NT$18.45 and NT$6.99 respectively, supported by a rebound in DRAM prices.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) also rose 1.5 percent to NT$76.30, after the world’s biggest contract chipmaker on Thursday offered a positive outlook for this year. Inventec Corp (英業達) rallied 2.7 percent to NT$17.05 following its announcement on Thursday that it was subscribing to the private placement of solar-cell maker E-Ton Solar Tech Co (益通光能).
China Development Financial Holding Co (中華開發金控) and Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) were among the most-traded financial stocks yesterday, rising 1.52 percent and 2.69 percent to NT$13.35 and NT$24.80 respectively.
Kuo Chien-cheng (郭建成), a fund manager at Taishin Investment Trust Co (台新投信), said the higher market close on an expanded market turnover signaled that investors were willing to hold on to their portfolio throughout the Lunar New Year break. The stock market will resume trading on Feb. 8.
Taishin Investment maintains a bullish view on the local bourse in the near term on expectations of continuous foreign fund inflows and a strong showing on Wall Street.
“Based on historical data over the past 10 years, the market has a 70 percent chance of moving up on the first trading session after the [Lunar] New Year holiday and an 80 percent chance of rising in the month following the holiday,” Kuo said in a statement.
In the foreign exchange market, the New Taiwan dollar rose NT$0.03 to close at NT$29.28 against the US dollar, central bank data showed.
The local currency rose as much as NT$0.31 to a fresh 13-year high of NT$29.00 versus the greenback, before paring its gains in last--minute trading on suspected intervention by the central bank.
In the year to date, the NT dollar has appreciated 3.58 percent against the US currency.
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