Taipei: Shares in Taiwan continued to set new closing records on rotational buying Tuesday despite new concerns over tensions in the Middle East, with gains moderated by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) in consolidation mode, dealers said. The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark index, ended up 64.15 points, or 0.16 percent, at 40,769.29 after moving between 40,552.78 and 40,885.05. Turnover totaled NT$997.64 billion (US$31.30 billion).
According to Focus Taiwan, despite TSMC coming under pressure, rotational buying remained active as investors picked up other tech heavyweights, paving the path to another closing high. After hitting a fresh closing high on Monday, TSMC, which accounts for over 40 percent of total market value, fell 1.10 percent to NT$2,250.00, contributing about 200 points to the Taiex's losses. In contrast, AI optimism continued to drive the Taipei market higher as investors shrugged off renewed tensions in the Middle East, considering them manageable.
On Monday, the United States and Iran exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz, leading to an increase in crude oil prices. Despite this, American major cloud service providers' plans for massive capital expenditures encouraged investors to buy AI-related tech stocks. Shares of smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc., committed to developing application-specific integrated circuits for AI, soared 10 percent to end at NT$3,155.00. Nanya Technology Corp. surged 8.23 percent to close at NT$256.50 due to a global memory chip shortage. Additionally, AI server maker and iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. gained 5.27 percent to end at NT$279.50.
The non-tech sector saw mixed results, though petrochemical stocks drew strong interest due to the spike in crude oil prices. Formosa Petrochemical Corp. rose 2.59 percent to close at NT$55.40, and Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp. ended up 1.97 percent at NT$51.80. Nan Ya Plastics Corp., the parent of Nanya Technology, jumped 6.33 percent to close at NT$94.00, and Taita Chemical Co. rose 1.56 percent at NT$19.50. However, Fortune Electric Co. fell 2.40 percent to close at NT$895.00, and Shihlin Electric and Engineering Corp. lost 1.74 percent to end at NT$198.00.
In the financial sector, rotational buying pushed the financial index up by 1.18 percent, with Fubon Financial Holding Co. gaining 1.32 percent to close at NT$92.20, and Cathay Financial Holding Co. adding 1.31 percent to end at NT$77.20. Despite the rally, analysts do not rule out the possibility of a technical pullback on the Taiex, though strong support is expected ahead of the 40,000-point mark. Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$3.94 billion of shares on the main board Tuesday, as reported by the TWSE.