The TAIEX yesterday surged 3.03 percent to 18,644.57, as heavyweight technology shares received a boost from the global buying of artificial intelligence (AI) suppliers over the Lunar New Year holiday, analysts said.
The local bourse resumed trading after a week in which US technology titans made concrete advances in line with upbeat AI growth expectations.
“The TAIEX mainly reflected the pickups on the Wall Street over the past week,” Nomura Asset Management Taiwan said, adding that shares of US chip giant Nvidia Corp have risen 25 percent this year and those of UK chip designer Arm Holdings PLC had almost doubled on strong sales and earnings guidance.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan, home to contract manufacturers of high-performance chips, AI servers and other electronics, was riding the global trend, Nomura said.
Specifically, shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), whose clients include Nvidia, Apple Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc, rose 7.89 percent to a record high of NT$697 after its American depositary receipts registered gains during the holiday, Nomura said.
TSMC’s rise came as little surprise in light of the close relations between the local bourse and the fate of major US technology stocks over the years, Nomura said.
Shares in chip tester and packager ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) closed up 4.23 percent at NT$135.5, while those of AI server vendor Wistron Corp (緯創) rose 4.82 percent to close at NT$130.5, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Global index provider MSCI Inc’s announcement on Tuesday that it would raise Taiwan’s weighting in two of its major indices later this month lent further support to the local bourse, analyst Chen Wei-liang (陳威良) said.
ShunSin Technology Holdings Ltd (訊芯) is to be added to the MSCI ACWI Small-Cap Index, after the chip tester’s shares have soared 37.55 percent so far this year, Chen said.
Turnover was NT$492.695 billion (US$15.678 billion) after foreign institutional players raised their holdings by a net NT$56.26 billion and proprietary traders added a net NT$2.22 billion.
Mutual funds opted to take profits and their portfolios shrank by a net NT$1.11 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
By contrast, tourism plays took a hit from the government’s ban on group tours to China after Beijing failed to provide a favorable response to Taiwan’s unilateral opening up.
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) shares closed down 2.79 percent to NT$31.35, while China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) shares fell 2.44 percent to close at NT$20.
Analysts remain positive about AI shares going forward, as companies and organizations pour more money into AI development and applications, which they believe would shake up workplaces and people’s lives.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
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.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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