Most Asian markets on Friday rose after the week’s strong gains, with traders upbeat as the chances of former US vice president Joe Biden winning the US election increased and after the US Federal Reserve indicated that it could provide further economic support.
While US President Donald Trump again accused the Democrats of committing voter fraud and his team launched a series of legal actions in various states, hopes a new stimulus package would eventually be passed were supporting sentiment.
Analysts said that Tuesday’s election was good for equities as the expected Democratic sweep of the US Congress failed to materialize, while Biden looked set to take the White House.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The market reaction to the unfolding election news suggests that financial markets would prefer to see a constrained Biden presidency,” said Paul O’Connor, head of Multi Asset at Janus Henderson Investors.
However, “the economic backdrop to this election is one of an incomplete global recovery that remains threatened by the continued spread of COVID-19 in many major economies, as well as fast-fading fiscal support measures,” he added.
A Biden presidency and Republican US Senate would likely mean Democrats would not be able to push ahead with regulatory changes and tax hikes, which observers said were both good for stocks. While lawmakers are also expected to push through a new economic rescue package, it would not likely be as big as anything from a Democratic-led US Congress, which National Australia Bank analysts said would put the onus on the Fed next year.
The US central bank provided some cheer to traders after its policy meeting on Thursday, as it pledged to do all it could to support the world’s top economy.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that more stimulus was “absolutely essential” to support the economy as the outlook was “extraordinarily uncertain,” but that other tools were available to the Fed.
“We can certainly look at new facilities” if the situation deteriorates, he told a news conference.
In Taipei, the TAIEX ended up 54.73 points, or 0.42 percent, at 12,973.53, after moving between 12,927,30, and 12,999.16. Turnover was NT$182.952 billion (US$6.34 billion).
It gained 3.4 percent over the week.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.91 percent or 219.95 points to close at 24,325.23, its highest level since November 1991. Over the week, the index rallied 5.87 percent.
The broader TOPIX closed up 0.52 percent or 8.55 points at 1,658.49, increasing 5.01 percent over the week.
Japanese indices started in negative territory, adjusting recent gains and reacting to a stronger yen against the US dollar.
“But investors later resumed bargain-hunting purchases on the backdrop of easing uncertainties over the US presidential election,” Okasan Online Securities said.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 0.07 percent to close at 25,712.97, rising 6.66 percent from a week earlier.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.24 percent to 3,312.16, but gained 2.72 percent for the week.
South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.11 percent to 2,416.5, increasing 6.59 percent from a week earlier, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.82 percent to 6,190.2 and rose 4.43 percent for the week.
Additional reporting by AFP and CNA, with staff writer
Micron Memory Taiwan Co (台灣美光), a subsidiary of US memorychip maker Micron Technology Inc, has been granted a NT$4.7 billion (US$149.5 million) subsidy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs A+ Corporate Innovation and R&D Enhancement program, the ministry said yesterday. The US memorychip maker’s program aims to back the development of high-performance and high-bandwidth memory chips with a total budget of NT$11.75 billion, the ministry said. Aside from the government funding, Micron is to inject the remaining investment of NT$7.06 billion as the company applied to participate the government’s Global Innovation Partnership Program to deepen technology cooperation, a ministry official told the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s leading advanced chipmaker, officially began volume production of its 2-nanometer chips in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a recent update on the company’s Web site. The low-key announcement confirms that TSMC, the go-to chipmaker for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware providers Nvidia Corp and iPhone maker Apple Inc, met its original roadmap for the next-generation technology. Production is currently centered at Fab 22 in Kaohsiung, utilizing the company’s first-generation nanosheet transistor technology. The new architecture achieves “full-node strides in performance and power consumption,” TSMC said. The company described the 2nm process as
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
POTENTIAL demand: Tesla’s chance of reclaiming its leadership in EVs seems uncertain, but breakthrough in full self-driving could help boost sales, an analyst said Chinese auto giant BYD Co (比亞迪) is poised to surpass Tesla Inc as the world’s biggest electric vehicle (EV) company in annual sales. The two groups are expected to soon publish their final figures for this year, and based on sales data so far this year, there is almost no chance the US company led by CEO Elon Musk would retain its leadership position. As of the end of last month, BYD, which also produces hybrid vehicles, had sold 2.07 million EVs. Tesla, for its part, had sold 1.22 million by the end of September. Tesla’s September figures included a one-time boost in
RSS