The nation’s securities account balance last month plunged NT$137.3 billion (US$4.26 billion) to NT$3.3 trillion, from a record high of NT$3.51 trillion in March, as fast and deep TAIEX corrections took a toll on investment sentiment, the central bank said on Friday.
The benchmark saw sharp retreats in the middle of last month after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest maker of advanced chips, gave a lackluster outlook for global chip demand this year, but stood by its own earnings ability.
The remarks set off panic sell-offs and capital outflows in the following days, as tech analysts had forecast TSMC would raise capital expenditures on the back of strong demand from artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies.
Photo: CNA
Further, brief military conflicts between Iran and Israel stirred up unease that the war in the Gaza Strip would escalate and spread across the Middle East, central bank research official Tsao Ti-jen (曹體仁) told a news conference in Taipei.
The stock rout reversed toward the end of last month after several US technology giants during earnings calls said they would increase their AI investments, although the spending might not bear fruit in the near future.
The TAIEX on Friday closed down 0.19 percent to 21,565.34 points, significantly different from 19,527.12 on April 19, the day after TSMC investors’ conference, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
The central bank’s latest data reflected that stock market sentiment remained bullish in the first four months of the year, as the TAIEX averaged 20,245 last month, up from 19,843 points in March, 18,612 points in February and 17,668 points in January.
In addition, the balance of margin loans spiked to NT$384.2 billion last month, up from NT$379 billion the previous month and hitting the highest level since February 2011, the central bank said.
New Taiwan dollar deposits by foreigners rose 12.19 percent to NT$220.9 billion last month, as some opted to park money in Taiwan, Tsao said, adding that cash dividends helped boost the balance.
Against that backdrop, the annual growth in the narrow money supply measure of M1B — which refers to money in circulation, including currency and passbook savings deposits — slowed to 4.94 percent last month, from 5.38 percent in March, the central bank said.
Likewise, the increase in the broad reading of M2 — which includes time deposits, time-saving deposits, foreign currency deposits, mutual funds and M1B — eased to 6.06 percent from 6.15 percent the previous month, it said.
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
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United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
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