The TAIEX jumped 86.83 points yesterday to close at 6,975.26, an increase of 1.3 percent and its highest close in four years, boosted by overseas investors who pumped in a record NT$19.4 billion.
The gain was led by semiconductor makers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and United Microelectronics Corp, which gained 3.9 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively.
"I think the TAIEX will definitely top 7,000 tomorrow [Wednesday]," said Peter Hsieh (謝杰良), manager of Polaris-Protime Securities Consultant.
"Foreign cash, rather than the presidential election, has apparently become the major influence on the stock market," he said.
Foreign investors have been accelerating their investment in the market as local industries pick up in line with the continuing recovery of global economy, Hsieh said.
The recent appreciation of New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar has also helped lure overseas investors, drawing money out of other Asian markets to Taiwan, he said.
As of yesterday, overseas investors have bought a total of NT$126.05 billion in stocks on the TAIEX this year, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp.
In contrast, local investors appear more conservative, with many planning to hold onto their money until after the election, he said.
Against this backdrop, Hsieh predicted the TAIEX will surge to as high as 7,200 points before the election and continue to rise to 7,400 over the next six months.
Stanley Yeh (
However, he thinks political factors are still likely to cool down the market in the short term after the election and political uncertainties could keep investors on the sidelines.
But if the global index compiler Morgan Stanley Capital International decides to upgrade Taiwan to developed market status in its global equity indexes after the election, there will be more foreign capital flowing into the market, Yeh said.
"As a whole, I think investors can expect a bumper year," he said.
Both Hsieh and Yeh are upbeat about finance, electronics and raw material stocks.
Finance stocks should hit their stride as banks clear their bad loans amid a wave of consolidation in the sector, which is expected to enhance cost-effectiveness, Hsieh said.
Semiconductors and flat-panel makers will continue to drive the market as demand for the both product rises worldwide, they said.
AU Optronics Corp and four other local makers of liquid-crystal displays (LCD) will account for 49 percent of global spending on LCD-making this year, overtaking South Korea as the world's largest LCD supplier, researcher DisplaySearch said last week.
Raw material stocks have bounced back to the list of blue chips, owing to the shortage of building materials such as steel and gravel, Yeh said.
China Steel Corp shares, for example, have risen 20 percent from NT$29 per share last month to NT$34.9 yesterday. Last week the company raised steel product prices by an average of 20 percent.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS