The TAIEX moved higher yesterday following gains in markets in the US overnight amid hopes that the COVID-19 contagion is easing and countries can gradually reopen their economies.
Buying focused on non-tech stocks to offset the losses suffered by select large-cap electronics stocks, helping the index push above 10,600, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 48.79 points, or 0.46 percent, at 10,616.06, on turnover of NT$181.911 billion (US$6.06 billion).
Despite the gain on the TAIEX, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$1.66 billion of shares, compared with a net buy of NT$16.88 billion on Monday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
“After a recent strong showing, certain tech heavyweights took a pause,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Unless the tech sector continues to steam ahead, it will be hard for the TAIEX to make a breakthrough and jump over technical hurdles.”
Among the stagnant tech stocks, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) fell 0.84 percent to close at NT$295.50.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), a smaller rival to TSMC, shed 6.19 percent on disappointing first-quarter earnings to end at NT$15.15.
Integrated circuit packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) lost 0.77 percent to close at NT$64.80, while iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) bucked the downturn, gaining 0.4 percent to end at NT$75.20.
“The silver lining was that the non-tech sector attracted bargain hunters today,” Huang said. “Among them, transportation stocks gained a lot on hopes that major economies are reopening to boost demand.”
In the transportation sector, EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) rose 3.94 percent to close at NT$10.55, China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) added 6.6 percent to end at NT$7.59 and container shipper Yang Ming Transport Corp (陽明海運) jumped 10 percent, the daily maximum increase, to close at NT$6.25.
The financial sector, boosted by rotational buying, rose 1.14 percent to lend further support to the broader market, Huang said.
Among the gaining financial stocks, First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) grew 1.43 percent to end at NT$21.30, Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) rose 2.26 percent to close at NT$29.35 and Hua Nan Financial Holding Co (華南金控) added 3 percent to end at NT$18.90 — the government owns a majority stake in all three financial holding companies.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS