Taiwan’s listed firms could generate an average of 8.6 percent profit this year, led by manufacturers in the semiconductor industry, Apple Inc’s supply chain and undervalued non-tech firms, Schroder Investment Management Taiwan forecast yesterday.
The profit estimate equals NT$1.53 trillion (US$50.74 billion), compared with NT$1.41 trillion last year, and help lift the TAIEX to 9,000 in the third quarter, Schroder Taiwan vice president Tony Chen (陳同力) said.
The TAIEX closed 0.54 percent lower at 8,500.01 yesterday.
Global investors are trimming bond holdings in favor of equities, in line with expectations of higher returns, Schroder Taiwan chief investment officer Jordan Chen (陳朝燈) said.
They have also increased stocks in developed nations where GDP growth is gaining momentum this year against a slower growth in emerging markets, he added.
As for the local bourse, the TAIEX could hold stable amid the capital movements in anticipation of the winding down of the US quantitative easing (QE), given its fair valuation and earnings outlook, he added.
Trading volume on the local stock market grew to NT$94.15 billion yesterday, the first day after the introduction of day trading for shares in 200 large-cap companies, from the NT$93.48 billion in the previous session on Friday last week.
Shroders expects the deregulation may extend to more stocks later this year to help invigorate the capital market and allow local securities houses more investment flexibility.
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
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,
TARIFF SURGE: The strong performance could be attributed to the growing artificial intelligence device market and mass orders ahead of potential US tariffs, analysts said The combined revenue of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange for the whole of last year totaled NT$44.66 trillion (US$1.35 trillion), up 12.8 percent year-on-year and hit a record high, data compiled by investment consulting firm CMoney showed on Saturday. The result came after listed firms reported a 23.92 percent annual increase in combined revenue for last month at NT$4.1 trillion, the second-highest for the month of December on record, and posted a 15.63 percent rise in combined revenue for the December quarter at NT$12.25 billion, the highest quarterly figure ever, the data showed. Analysts attributed the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) quarterly sales topped estimates, reinforcing investor hopes that the torrid pace of artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending would extend into this year. The go-to chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported a 39 percent rise in December-quarter revenue to NT$868.5 billion (US$26.35 billion), based on calculations from monthly disclosures. That compared with an average estimate of NT$854.7 billion. The strong showing from Taiwan’s largest company bolsters expectations that big tech companies from Alphabet Inc to Microsoft Corp would continue to build and upgrade datacenters at a rapid clip to propel AI development. Growth accelerated for
RSS