Taiwan shares jump more than 100 points
November 7, 2016 taiwanwireservice.com Business
Taiwan shares climbed more than 100 points during Monday's trade as investors gained some reassurance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) statement that there were no grounds to charge presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in an email controversy, dealers said.
Buying focused on large cap stocks in the bellwether electronics sector, in particular Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, ???), pushing up the weighted index to the 9,100-point level, they said.
As of 12:51 p.m., the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange had jumped 114.72 points, or 1.27 percent, to 9,182.87 on turnover of NT$41.52 billion (US$1.32 billion).
The local equity market and the global markets had been affected by the close U.S. presidential election, particularly after the FBI brought up the Clinton's email use issue again on Oct. 28, which analysts said narrowed the lead of the Democratic presidential nominee over her Republican rival Donald Trump.
However, FBI Director James Comey said early Monday morning Taipei time that an investigative team had analyzed a new trove of emails that were either to or from Clinton and the review had not changed the FBI's decision in July not to pursue charges against her.
"The FBI's statement brought some relief to investors at home and abroad, and traders on the local market took advantage of last week's drop, picking up bargains, in particular market heavyweights," Hua Nan Securities analyst Henry Miao said.
Last week, the local main board fell 238.77 points, or 2.57 percent, to close at 9,068.15 points on Friday amid worry over the possibility of the FBI pursuing charges against Clinton.
As of 12:51 p.m. Monday, contract chip maker TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, had climbed 1.90 percent to NT$188.00, and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., an assembler of iPhones and iPads, had added 1.34 percent to reach NT$83.10.
Meanwhile, Largan Precision Co. (???), a smartphone camera lens supplier to Apple Inc., was 3.00 percent higher at NT$3,600.00, remaining the most expensive stock in Taiwan.
"Judging from the buying in these market heavyweights, I suspect that many foreign institutional investors returned to the buy side today for short covering," Miao said.
Last week, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$19.10 billion worth of shares on the local main board, according to the TWSE.
Miao said futures on Wall Street also pointed to a rise at the moment, indicating that the U.S. spot market might bounce back later in the day on the FBI's statement.
"The buying in the local equity market came as investors began betting on a rebound on Wall Street Monday," Miao said. "But the uptrend in the Taipei market is likely to pause tomorrow ahead of the U.S. presidential vote as investors wait for the results."
He forecast that the weighted index will move between 9,150 and 9,250 points Tuesday.
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