The TAIEX yesterday staged a strong comeback, rising 2.81 percent, or 250.58 points, to close at 9,152.88, led by local firms in Apple Inc’s supply chain as the iPhone 7 is turning out to be more successful and popular than expected, analysts said.
The rally came despite a correction on Wall Street over the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday and policy uncertainty ahead of meetings of the central banks of the US and Japan.
“The rebound was much stronger than expected because of pre-orders for Apple’s iPhone 7 blowing away expectations at US telecom providers,” Masterlink Securities Investment Advisory Corp (元富投顧) president Liu Kun-hsi (劉坤錫) said by telephone.
Turnover rose to NT$96.98 billion (US$3.08 billion), a 15.14 percent increase from Wednesday last week, the last day before the market closed for the holiday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Apple might sell as many as 100 million iPhone 7s by the end of the year, thanks to robust initial sales, which might be benefiting from rival Samsung Electronics Co’s recall of its Galaxy Note 7, foreign technology analysts forecast.
The exciting twists led institutional players to increase positions in local shares by a net NT$11.27 billion, while mutual funds added net holdings of NT$178 million, but proprietary traders trimmed holdings by NT$57.31 million, according to bourse tallies.
Foreign fund inflows elevated the New Taiwan dollar 0.76 percent to close at NT$31.450 against the greenback in Taipei trading, outpacing a 0.06 percent increase in both the Chinese yuan and South Korean won, the central bank said in a statement.
Currency transactions totaled US$1.045 billion on the Taipei Exchange, a significant increase from US$705 million on Wednesday on the back of better iPhone 7 sales, a trader at a local bank said.
Taiwanese firms supply chips, batteries, camera lenses, casings and other components for the iPhone 7, explaining a 4.29 percent rise in electronics firms, while semiconductor players advanced 4.11 percent and computer and peripheral makers rose 3.51 percent, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.
The TAIEX might consolidate for the rest of the week until the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan announce their latest monetary policies, Liu said.
“Chances are the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged this month and save rate hikes for its meeting in December to better support economic growth,” Liu said, adding that the scenario would drive more foreign funds to emerging markets, including Taiwan.
However, the currency trader voiced caution, saying foreign exchange markets could turn around any time investors see fit.
The local currency might trade between NT$31.2 and NT$31.8 versus the US dollar in the near future, as the central bank will not tolerate excessive volatility, Liu said.
The central bank is due to review its policy rates later this month.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS