Taiwanese shares closed up 1.17 percent yesterday, spurred by more government incentives for the market, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 71.61 points to 6,182.21 on turnover of NT$90.28 billion (US$2.82 billion).
“The market continued to rebound today over the legislature’s plan to extend the stock transaction tax cut for another six months,” Allen Lin of Concord Securities (康和證券) said.
The Cabinet announced earlier this month that the stock transaction tax would be halved to 0.15 percent for six months as part of a US$5.6 billion economic stimulus package.
While South Korean shares closed 1.44 percent higher yesterday, most markets fell across Asia on growing doubts about Washington’s US$700 billion rescue package for the ailing US financial sector and after a fresh spike in crude oil prices.
High oil prices stoke investor concerns that company profits will be eroded by soaring energy costs. They can also hamper global economic growth, dealers said.
Hong Kong shares dived 3.9 percent, Singapore shares closed 2.66 percent lower, Sydney shed 1.9 percent and Shanghai dropped 1.56 percent, while Japan’s markets were closed for a public holiday.
Wall Street had plunged by 3.27 percent overnight.
In morning European deals, the London stock market sank 1.55 percent, Paris dipped 1.41 and Frankfurt shed 0.60 percent in value.
Initial enthusiasm over the US rescue plan, which was unveiled on Friday, turned sour this week as doubts surfaced over whether it would pass Congress and how it might be implemented.
“The usual skepticism in the wake of a new policy initiative has already taken hold, equity markets falling back and bonds and the dollar on the defensive as markets fret about the potential cost,” said Daragh Maher, an analyst at Calyon.
However, he said: “Things may be about to settle down into a more sedate environment as the market looks for additional clarity regarding the details of the financial system rescue plan.”
Investors piled into gold and oil as they assessed whether the US Congress would endorse US President George W. Bush’s dramatic intervention to buy up troubled mortgage-backed securities from distressed banks.
Merrill Lynch chief North American economist David Rosenberg said Bush’s rescue package would only provide some relief from the turmoil.
“We do not think it seriously changes the endgame — the US economy is in recession and likely to remain so,” he said in a research note.
“At best [the rescue package] merely removes what was looking like the worst case scenario: the entire collapse of the global financial system and a deep global depression,” he said.
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