Taiwanese shares yesterday closed nearly 2 percent higher, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), following a retreat after the market topped 40,000 points for the first time.
Stocks were also sharply higher in Japan and South Korea yesterday on the back of artificial intelligence (AI)-fueled tech gains following US chip giant Intel Corp’s healthy revenue forecasts, even though the price of Brent crude oil jumped US$2.50 a barrel early in the day as talks between the US and Iran on ending the war in the Middle East remain stalled.
The TAIEX closed up 684.23 points, or 1.76 percent, at 39,616.63 after hitting a high of 40,194.92. Turnover expanded to NT$1.184 trillion (US$37.63 billion) from NT$1.033 trillion in the previous session, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Photo: CNA
The main board exceeded 40,000 points just minutes after it opened, boosted by a tech rally in the US on Friday, when TSMC’s American depositary receipts rose 5.17 percent.
“TSMC was the major driver of the TAIEX’s gains today as the gains shown by semiconductor stocks on the US market boosted expectations about TSMC’s valuation,” Moore Securities Investment Consulting Co (摩爾投顧) analyst Adam Lin (林漢偉) said.
“I am not worried about the TAIEX’s failure to sustain its gains above 40,000 points today. I expect TSMC will continue to move higher on its sound fundamentals and US tech gains, helping the index challenge that level again,” he said.
TSMC closed up 3.66 percent at NT$2,265, off a high of NT$2,280.
The chipmaker’s stock also benefited from a Financial Supervisory Commission policy that took effect on Friday allowing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to increase their investment in any single stock accounting for more than 10 percent of total market value to 25 percent of the ETFs net assets from the previous 10 percent.
TSMC accounts for more than 40 percent of the main board’s total value.
With TSMC attracting most of the buying, some other tech stocks appeared lackluster, Lin said.
Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) closed unchanged, chip packaging and testing service firm ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) fell 0.10 percent and power management solution provider Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) shed 2.65 percent.
However, AI server and iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) rose 2.93 percent.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.4 percent to 60,537.36 after touching a new intraday high of 60,903.95. South Korea’s KOSPI jumped 2 percent to 6,615.03, as chip and robotics stocks advanced.
Elsewhere, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 percent to 4,086.34, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 0.1 percent to 25,964.27. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also slipped 0.2 percent to 8,766.40.
Additional reporting by AP
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