Asian stocks rose this week, giving the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index its biggest advance since May, amid renewed confidence the global economy is recovering.
CapitaLand Ltd, Singapore＊s biggest developer, climbed 10 percent as Singapore upgraded its economic growth forecasts. Alumina Ltd, partner in the world＊s biggest producer of the material used to make aluminum, jumped 15 percent in Sydney as commodity prices climbed.
Bank of Communications Co (拶蠯錞?) gained 8.3 percent in Hong Kong as economist Nouriel Roubini said the worst of the financial crisis was over.
※The recovery is gaining traction,§ said Nader Naeimi, a strategist at AMP Capital Investors in Sydney, which manages about US$95 billion. ※Even if we don＊t see spectacular growth, a stabilization should be enough to support a market rally.§
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index added 2.7 percent to 103.38 this week. The gauge has rallied 47 percent from a five-year low on March 9 amid optimism stimulus policies around the world will revive the global economy. The MSCI World Index gained 6.7 percent this week, the most since March.
Hong Kong＊s Hang Seng Index climbed 6.2 percent, while Japan＊s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.2 percent. Indonesia＊s Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.6 percent yesterday, paring its weekly gain to 2.1 percent, after bomb blasts killed at least eight people in the city.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index has risen this week as government reports showed economic growth accelerated in China and US manufacturing improved. Intel Corp forecast sales that beat analyst estimates, while International Business Machines Corp raised its profit forecast.
Stocks on the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index are trading at an average 43 times reported earnings, up from the 15 times shares were trading at during the market＊s trough in March. Companies on the S&P 500 are currently at 14 times profit.
Taiwanese share prices are expected to continue their upward trend next week with interest moving to old-economy firms from their high tech counterparts, dealers said.
Shares in companies that have close business ties with China may benefit from a technical rebound after recent heavy losses, while property stocks are likely to gain on hopes of rising property prices, they said.
However, as the market moves closer to the key 7,000 point mark, resistance may cap the gains during trade next week, while a strong technical support may be seen at around 6,600 points, dealers said.
For the week to July 17, the weighted index rose 81.13 points or 1.20 percent to 6,850.99 after a 1.57 percent increase a week earlier.
Average daily turnover stood at NT$128.01 billion (US$3.89 billion), compared with NT$119.37 billion a week ago.
The bellwether electronic sector served as a driver to the gains seen this week amid optimism over the outlook of the global high tech sector, helping the market recoup Monday＊s heavy losses.
※I expect the momentum of the electronic sector will be 〝weakening next week on technical factors,§ President Securities (巘擩嬾盺) analyst Steven Huang said.
※As a market laggard, the old economy sector is expected to take its turn to lift the market,§ Huang said.
China chips, in particular, may attract more buying after the government reiterated that talks on a bilateral trade agreement with China remain on track, Huang said.
※After Goldman Sachs and Intel reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, market confidence seems to have recovered to some extent,§ he said.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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