The TAIEX yesterday closed at a record high after early losses were reversed by a late rally in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares on hopes that it will have positive news at its investor conference on Thursday, dealers said.
Other large-cap semiconductor shares also attracted buying late in the session and non-tech heavyweights benefited from strong liquidity, lending further support to the broader market, they said.
The TAIEX closed up 93.35 points, or 0.60 percent, at the day’s high of 15,557.30 on turnover of NT$323.597 billion (US$11.36 billion).
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$1.59 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
“TSMC’s early losses largely reflected a fall [of 2.66 percent] in its American depositary receipt [ADR] on US markets on Friday [last week],” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投信) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
“After the ADR losses were absorbed, investors looked to take advantage of TSMC’s early losses as the market is widely expecting the contract chipmaker to deliver positive leads on Thursday,” he said.
TSMC shares rose 0.69 percent to close at NT$584.
The market is expecting TSMC to forecast about a 15 percent year-on-year increase in sales this year.
Shares of United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), a smaller contract chipmaker, soared 4.99 percent to close at NT$50 on the back of solid demand for 8-inch wafers, which are the company’s major products.
Shares of iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) fell 0.46 percent to close at NT$107.5, but those of Largan Precision Co (大立光), a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc, rose 0.16 percent to close at NT$3,045.
“The market has repeatedly hit new highs because of all the liquidity out there,” Huang said. “Those funds not only propped up the mainstream tech sector today, but also select old economy stocks, especially petrochemical stocks in Formosa Plastics Group [FPG, 台塑集團].”
Among FPG companies, Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) shares rose 2.34 percent to 74.4 and Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠) shares gained 1.02 percent to close at NT$99.
In the shipping sector, which continued to benefit from rising freight rates, shares of Evergreen Marine Corp (Taiwan) Ltd (長榮海運), the nation’s largest shipping company, rose 5.83 percent to NT$42.65 and those of Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) added 4.58 percent to close at NT$28.55.
The financial sector was also boosted by late-session buying and gained 0.19 percent.
Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) shares closed 0.17 percent higher at NT$30.05, Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) shares gained 2.58 percent to NT$21.9 and China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) shares surged 3.19 percent to close at NT$9.71.
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