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.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS