Share prices closed 1.28 percent lower yesterday on concerns about the impact of domestic fuel price hikes, dealers said.
They said transport and industrial firms fell sharply on worries that they would face higher operating or production costs.
The weighted index closed down 112.66 points at the day’s low of 8,665.73 on turnover of NT$111.66 billion (US$3.66 billion).
Decliners outnumbered advancers 1,916 to 498, while 270 stocks were unchanged. Five stocks closed limit-up, while 40 were limit-down.
Alex Huang (黃國偉), an assistant vice president at Mega International Investment Services (兆豐國際投顧), said that the fuel price increases that took effect yesterday could lead to further hikes down the road.
“The latest price adjustments do not fully reflect crude oil price surges,” he said. “There are worries about further [hikes] going forward.”
Higher fuel prices raised inflation worries and stoked concerns about the impact on the economy, Huang said, adding inflation and relations with China will continue to dominate the local bourse in the near term.
Meanwhile, ING Securities Investment & Trust Co (安泰證券投信) — which manages the equivalent of about US$13 billion — thinks the TAIEX will gain to 12,000 in a year on improving relations with China and the new government’s economic policies.
“The previous political tension was an obstacle in joining the China growth story,” Steve Chu (鄒鴻圖), Taipei-based head of equities at the company said yesterday in Seoul.
“Tax reform and other economic policies will help boost domestic demand and attract money to Taiwan,” he said.
The TAIEX has added 1.88 percent this year, one of two Asian benchmarks to post a gain.
Chu is increasing his holdings of financials and other stocks related to the domestic economy.
Lower taxes will encourage Taiwan’s investors to invest in Taiwan’s assets rather than overseas, helping boost the economy, he said.
Foreign investors are also buying Taiwanese stocks this year after being net sellers in the previous two years, Chu said.
“The reversal of fund flows has just begun,” he said.
Earlier this month, the government raised its target for this year’s economic growth from 4.8 percent to 5 percent.
Chu said he also expects growth of “around 5 percent” on improving relations with China, and as investment in infrastructure projects help offset the negative impact of inflation.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
RSS