Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index posting its biggest weekly rally in three months after the US’ unemployment rate slid to its lowest level since before the peak of the financial crisis.
In Taipei, the TAIEX posted its biggest weekly advance since March, spurring the longest declining streak in benchmark five-year notes in 18 months, after HSBC Holdings PLC and Markit Economics’ purchasing managers’ index showed that domestic manufacturing expanded by the most in four months last month.
The TAIEX climbed 2.2 percent for the week and rose to 9,550.11 on Thursday, the highest level since November 2007.
On Friday, the benchmark index fell 0.17 percent, or 16.18 points, to 9,510.05, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) added 0.37 percent to NT$135.0 and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) fell 0.96 percent to NT$103.
“The stock market’s outlook is still quite good,” said Tobby Lin, a Taipei-based fixed-income trader at Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券).
Elsewhere in the region, Japan’s TOPIX rose 0.5 percent on Friday, while South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.1 percent, New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index gained 0.4 percent and the S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.6 percent.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index was little changed, as was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which added less than 0.1 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese stocks traded in the territory advanced 0.3 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2 percent and India’s S&P BSE SENSEX gained 0.5 percent.
Companies that do business in the US rose, with HTC Corp (宏達電) jumping 1.1 percent to NT$138.50 in Taipei after returning to profit as the release of its marquee One M8 smartphone and a cut in marketing costs helped stem the effects of a continued decline in sales.
In Tokyo, automaker Mazda Motor Corp gained 1.2 percent to ￥493 this week and convenience store operator Seven & I Holdings Co added 2 percent to ￥4,447 after first-quarter operating profit rose 5.1 percent annually to ￥77.5 billion (US$760 million).
Other firms with business in the US that gained this week included Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯國際集成電路), which added 7.3 percent in Hong Kong after securing orders from Qualcomm Inc to make chips for the world’s largest supplier of smartphone processors, while Techtronic Industries Co, a maker of power tools, added 1.9 percent to HK$24.80 and Sands China Ltd advanced 2.4 percent to HK$61.15 after HSBC raised its target price on the casino operator to HK$70.70.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.4 percent to 147.59 to record a 1.7 percent weekly gain on Friday, the largest such advance since the period ended on April 4. The measure is in its eighth straight weekly rally, the longest streak since 2012.
The Asia-Pacific gauge traded at 13.4 times estimated earnings at the last close, compared with 16.7 for the S&P 500 and 15.7 for the STOXX Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“The [US] jobs report was a positive surprise and it confirmed the ongoing recovery in the US labor market,” Nomura Holdings Inc equity market strategist Masaaki Yamaguchi said. “That’s adding a tailwind to the market.”
In other markets on Friday:
Wellington gained 0.42 percent, or 21.51 points, from Thursday to close on 5,188.91.
Manila ended on 6,962.28 after rising 0.91 percent, or 62.97 points.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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