Taiwanese shares moved higher yesterday on a technical rebound, but the gains were capped by a late sell-off of large-cap semiconductor stocks, dealers said.
Turnover also remained low as investors worried the US Federal Reserve could follow a tighter monetary policy after the US on Friday reported stronger-than-expected job data for last month, they said.
The bellwether electronics sector and transportation stocks initially led the upturn before profit-taking emerged.
Photo: CNA
Buying rotated to select old-economy stocks and some financial stocks, lending support to the broader market, the dealers added.
The TAIEX closed up 53.39 points, or 0.32 percent, at 16,605.96. Turnover totaled NT$210.28 billion (US$7.15 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$2.21 billion in shares on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
“Look at today’s turnover. I think market sentiment remained cautious after the US’ May non-farm payroll data. Many investors appeared reluctant to chase prices for the time being,” Hua Nan Securities Co (華南永昌證券) analyst Lu Chin-wei said.
“Caution over a more aggressive rate hike cycle in the US continues to weigh on American stock markets, and investors here are nervous that further US volatility will send ripples through other stock markets, including Taiwan’s,” Lu said.
“As the US dollar continues to strengthen due to the Fed’s interest rate hikes, it is unlikely foreign institutional investors will resume heavy buying of shares in Taiwan any time soon,” he said.
The New Taiwan dollar declined NT$0.027 to close at NT$29.415 against the US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday.
POTENTIAL SETBACK: Although Chinese chip designers and foundry firms already have US EDA software, they might be unable to update those programs under new US rules The US’ latest ban on advanced electronic design automation (EDA) software exports to China might hinder Chinese chip companies from accessing advanced semiconductor technology, as they attempt to upgrade to 3-nanometer processes in the next three to five years, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security on Friday announced bans on EDA tools for gate-all-around field-effect transistors (GAAFET), a new-generation semiconductor technology that US chipmaker Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co from South Korea are adopting to make 4-nanometer and 3-nanometer chips. The bureau in a statement said that gate-all-around field-effect transistor
WIDENING THE FIELD: Human resources managers must drop prejudices regarding gender, appearance and age to find the best candidates, Micro Technology said The job market for Taiwan’s semiconductor industry remained tight this quarter, as hiring activity slowed from a record high last quarter, a survey released yesterday by online human resource firm 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) showed. Ongoing labor shortages have prompted local semiconductor firms to recruit more women and foreigners in Taiwan and in Southeast Asia, the job bank said. The talent gap in the first quarter reached 35,000 people per month, a surge of 39.8 percent from the same period last year, as the contactless economy and digital transformation shore up demand for semiconductors, 104 Job Bank said in its annual report
POSITIVE CULTURE: Pursuing 12-inch wafers earlier than peers helped TSMC lead the industry, said a former executive, whose main regret was working for SMIC in China Corporate culture at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is what made the chipmaker a leading player in the global industry, a former executive said in an interview with California’s Computer History Museum. “One of the really important reasons that TSMC succeeded” is the culture at the firm, where “if equipment went down at two o’clock in the morning, we just called an equipment engineer,” and the worker would not complain, said former TSMC joint chief operating officer Chiang Shan-yi (蔣尚義). “We didn’t really do anything special, anything great, but we didn’t make any major mistakes,” when compared with competitors, such
DISMAL OUTLOOK: A Citigroup analyst predicted firms face ‘the worst semiconductor downturn in at least a decade,’ due to inventory build and the potential of a recession Semiconductor stocks tumbled after Micron Technology Inc became the latest chipmaker to warn about slowing demand, triggering concern that the industry is heading into a painful downturn. In the US on Tuesday, the Philadelphia semiconductor index sank 4.6 percent, with all 30 members in the red, its biggest drop in about two months. In Asia, chip stocks from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc and Tokyo Electron Ltd slumped. Investors are growing increasingly skittish as the notoriously cyclical industry is hurtling toward a prolonged slump after years of widespread shortages that led to heavy
RSS