Taiwan shares edge down amid caution after attack on Trump

Taipei, July 15 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed slightly lower Monday as investor sentiment turned cautious following an apparent assassination attempt of former U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend, dealers said.

The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark weighted index, ended down 37.57 points, or 0.16 percent, at 23,879.36 after moving between 23,759.51 and 24,018.31. Turnover totaled NT$460.50 billion (US$14.17 billion).

The market opened up 10.98 points and rose to the day's high within the first two minutes of trading on a technical rebound from a session earlier, when the Taiex slid 1.94 percent, dealers said.

But selling quickly set in, pushing down large cap electronics stocks as investors ignored a 0.63 percent rise on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index in the United States at the end of last week and instead reacted to the incident involving Trump, dealers said.

After the Taiex fell below 24,000 points, some bargain hunters emerged to pick up select tech heavyweights, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), to help the Taiex recover some of its earlier losses, dealers said.

After the assassination attempt, many investors at home and abroad are betting Trump will win the presidential election, Taishin Securities Investment Advisory analyst Tony Huang said.

"Judging from Trump's performance in his term, where he strongly advocated 'America First,' there are fears that his victory will lead to more friction in global trade," Huang said. "So, the Taiex failed to stage a rebound from Friday's tumble."

AI frenzy

"Fortunately, the bellwether electronics sector largely came out of its early weakness ahead of TSMC's investor conference Thursday. Investors are still hopeful TSMC will give positive leads on the boom in artificial intelligence development," Huang said.

TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the local market, closed unchanged at NT$1,040.00 after hitting a low of NT$1,025.00. With a resilient TSMC, the electronics index and semiconductor sub-index lost only 0.13 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively.

Also backed by the AI frenzy, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. bucked the downturn, rising 0.23 percent to end at NT$216.50, off a low of NT$214.50.

Hon Hai has forecast that its AI server sales will grow more than 40 percent in 2024.

Among other semiconductor heavyweights, smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. fell 0.37 percent to close at NT$1,355.00, while United Microelectronics Corp., a smaller contract chipmaker, rose 0.75 percent to end at NT$53.40.

Also in the electronics sector, Largan Precision Co., a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc., gained 1.79 percent to close at NT$3,120.00 on hopes that its sales will be helped by the pending debut of the next iPhones.

Financial stocks

Compared with the tech sector's resilience, the financial sector lost 1.27 percent.

"On Friday, tech heavyweights were major drivers of the session's steep losses," Huang said. "Today, it was the turn of the financial sector to feel the pinch on rotational selling."

Among the large cap financial stocks, CTBC Financial Holding Co. lost 1.95 percent to close at NT$37.65, Fubon Financial Holding Co. fell 1.09 percent to end at NT$90.90, and Cathay Financial Holding Co. dropped 1.07 percent to close at NT$65.00.

But, E. Sun Financial Holding Co. ended up 0.33 percent at NT$30.00.

Old economy industries

Old economy industries appeared mixed, with the electric machinery industry rising 1.35 percent on expectations of rising demand for power supply equipment, dealers said.

In the industry, Shihlin Electric & Engineering Corp. rose 4.46 percent to close at NT$304.50, and Chung-Hsin Electric & Machinery Manufacturing Corp. gained 1.73 percent to end at NT$235.50.

In addition, Fortune Electric Cop. Rose 5.84 percent to end at NT$960.00, and Lee Chi Enterprises Co. ended up 2.87 percent at NT$17.90.

On the other hand, the transportation index fell 0.67 percent, with China Airlines closing 2.71 percent lower at NT$23.35 and EVA Airways ending down 1.86 percent at NT$34.25.

Meanwhile, Evergreen Marine Corp., the largest container cargo shipper in Taiwan, closed unchanged at NT$173.50, while rival Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. lost 1.41 percent to close at NT$63.10.

Elsewhere in the old economy sector, food brand Uni-President Enterprises Corp. rose 0.93 percent to close at NT$86.50, while Wei Chuan Foods Corp. ended unchanged at NT$18.50.

TSMC conference call

"Before TSMC's investor conference, I think it's possible that the Taiex will see technical support ahead of 23,700 points if the market is affected by further volatility," Huang said.

The 10-day moving average is currently at around 23,710 points.

"We will also have to observe how the U.S. markets react to the leads TSMC gives in the conference (Thursday), which will affect Taiwan's market the following day," Huang said.

According to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$13.94 billion in shares on the market Monday.