Taipei, May 10 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan moved higher by just under a percent on Friday as the non-tech sector attracted strong buying, dealers said.
Contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the most heavily weighted stock on the market, also moved higher ahead of the release of its April sales data to stabilize the bellwether electronics sector, dealers said.
The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s benchmark weighted index, ended up 148.07 points, or 0.72 percent, at 20,708.84 after moving between 20,574.01 and 20,765.82. Turnover totaled NT$434.34 billion (US$13.38 billion).
The market opened up 0.10 percent and buying in non-tech stocks, in particular in the financial and transportation sectors, continued, offsetting the weakness suffered by many electronics stocks, according to dealers.
In the afternoon, TSMC’s gains increased. It closed up 0.75 percent at NT$802.00. Its strength offset the weakness of the entire electronics sector by the end of the session.
Rotational buying
“Rotational buying remained active throughout the session and today’s focus shifted to non-tech stocks,” Moore Securities Investment Consulting analyst Adam Lin said. “Financial stocks were boosted by strong earnings reported by major financial firms.”
The financial sector rose 2.74 percent after Cathay Financial Holding Co. reported on Thursday a net profit of more than NT$50 billion in the first four months of 2024, up almost 300 percent from a year earlier.
“The strong upturn in the financial sector also came as investors were happy with their generous dividend payouts at a time when the Yuanta Taiwan Value High Dividend ETF will soon update its constituents,” Lin said.
Cathay Financial soared 7.35 percent to close at NT$55.50, and CTBC Financial Holding Co. gained 3.74 percent to end at NT$37.45.
Fubon Financial Holding Co. rose 2.72 percent to close at NT$71.80, and E. Sun Financial Holding Co. ended up 2.15 percent at NT$28.50.
Shipping
In the old economy sector, “shipping stocks rode the wave of rising freight rates due to a shortage in shipping capacity,” Lin said, referring to benchmark indexes, including the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index, which rose 18 percent this week.
The transportation index surged 6.35 percent with Evergreen Marine Corp., the largest container cargo shipper in Taiwan, jumping 9.01 percent to close at NT$193.50.
Rivals Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. and Wan Hai Lines Ltd. both surged 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, to end at NT$60.60 and NT$63.80, respectively.
Elsewhere in the old economy sector, textile brand Far Eastern New Century Corp. rose 3.14 percent to close at NT$434.45, and Asia Cement Corp. gained 5.87 percent to end at NT$46.00.
TSMC, tech sector
In the tech sector, TSMC’s gains contributed about 50 points alone to the Taiex’s rise, with the electronics index and the semiconductor sub-index up 0.24 percent and 0.09 percent, respectively.
“Before the release of TSMC’s April sales, the market widely expected TSMC would report a 50 percent year-on-year increase in sales for April or even higher growth,” Lin said.
After the market closed, TSMC said in a statement that its April sales rose 59.6 percent from a year earlier and 20.9 percent from a month earlier to NT$236.02 billion.
● TSMC sales in April hit second-highest monthly level
● TSMC to pay NT$4.0 cash dividend per share for Q1 earnings
Other semiconductor stocks appeared mixed. United Microelectronics Corp., a smaller contract chipmaker, rose 0.58 percent to close at NT$52.20, while TSMC’s application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design subsidiary Global Unichip Corp. fell 0.39 percent to end at NT$1,270.00.
Smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. closed unchanged at NT$1,095.00, while Alchip Technologies Ltd., another ASIC designer, shed 2.86 percent to end at NT$2,550.00.
Also in the tech sector, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which also rolls out AI servers, fell 0.59 percent to close at NT$169.50, and Quanta Computer Inc., another major AI server supplier, lost 1.46 percent to end at NT $270.50.
In addition, Wistron Corp., also an AI server maker, bucked the downturn, closing 1.79 percent higher at NT$114.00, while Wistron’s cloud application subsidiary, Wiwynn Corp., shed 1.84 percent to end at NT$2,405.00.
“After today’s gains, the Taiex moved closer to the historical intraday high of 20,833 points (seen on April 10),” Lin said. “But only if the electronics sector accounts for 65 percent or more of the daily turnover will the Taiex be able to jump over that hurdle.”
On Friday, the electronics sector accounted for about 53 percent of total turnover.
According to the Taiwan stock exchange, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$16.81 billion in shares Friday.
(By Pan Chih-yi and Frances Huang)
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