The TAIEX yesterday closed sharply higher, rising more than 200 points in the first trading session after the Lunar New Year holiday, with buying sparked by a rally on US markets during the break.
Investors focused on old-economy stocks, especially the transportation sector, which had consolidated for a time, as well as the raw material industry following product price increases.
The bellwether electronics sector underperformed the broader market, as contract chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) weakened.
Photo: CNA
The weighted index closed up 225.90 points, or 1.28 percent, at the day’s high of 17,900.30, after coming off a low of 17,712.35. Turnover totaled NT$305.07 billion (US$10.96 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$6.41 billion of shares on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
“The local main board was simply playing catch-up with its foreign counterparts after the long [Lunar] New Year holiday,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
However, the electronics sector lost its market-leading status, “as pure-play foundry operators, such as TSMC, moved in the doldrums for most of the session,” he said.
The selling in the upstream segment of the semiconductor industry came after GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, on Tuesday last week announced that it had failed to gain regulatory approval from the German government before a deadline to complete an acquisition of its Siltronic AG.
TSMC lost 0.16 percent to close at NT$635 and GlobalWafers plunged 6.61 percent to close at NT$199. GlobalWafers’ parent company, Sino-American Silicon Products Inc (中美晶), also shed 5.01 percent to close at NT$720.
“Fortunately, heavily weighted shipping stocks made a strong comeback today after consolidating recently, which offset the impact from a lackluster tech sector,” Huang said, adding that yesterday’s gains “could be the beginning of an uptrend.”
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the nation’s largest container cargo shipper, jumped 10 percent to close at NT$124. Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) and Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運) also surged by 10 percent to end at NT$108 and NT$162 respectively.
In the steel sector, China Steel Corp (中鋼) rose 1.78 percent to close at NT$34.25 and Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp (東和鋼鐵) rose 6.67 percent to end at NT$72.
The financial sector rode a wave of expectations that the US Federal Reserve would soon start a cycle of rate hikes, with Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) rising 3.79 percent to close at NT$65.70, Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) gaining 2.84 percent to end at NT$38 and Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) adding 1.98 percent to close at NT$77.10.
“The local equity market is still dictated by the US markets,” Huang said. “Investors need to keep a close eye on the US markets at a time when the Fed is tightening its monetary policy.”
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