Taiwan shares soar 2.96% as TSMC, tech stocks post major gains

Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan soared over 600 points Thursday on the back of significant gains by chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and other large-cap tech stocks.

The TAIEX, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), closed up 622.25 points, or 2.96 percent, at 21,653.25, down from an intraday high of 21,706.85. Turnover totaled NT$308.03 billion (US$9.58 billion).

The 622-point surge was the fourth-largest in the TWSE's history.

TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, rose NT$43, or 4.79 percent, to close at NT$940.

The spike in the company's share price came after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang -- to whose company TSMC is a top supplier -- told a conference in San Francisco that Nvidia is struggling to keep up with "incredible" levels of demand from its customers.

Meanwhile, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also known as Foxconn internationally, closed up 4.72 percent, while smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. gained 4.05 percent.

Among artificial intelligence-related stocks, AI server maker Quanta Computer Inc. rose 4.55 percent, while rival Wistron Corp. rose more than 5 percent, and Wistron's cloud application subsidiary Wiwynn Corp. soared 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, to close at NT$1,815.

In the financial sector, Shin Kong Financial Holding Co. failed to build on the nearly 4 percent rise it posted Wednesday, despite receiving an improved acquisition offer from Taishin Financial Co.

Shin Kong Financial shares dropped by 1.48 percent on Thursday, closing at NT$13.30, while Taishin dropped 1.08 percent to NT$18.30.

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$36.37 billion worth of shares on the main board Thursday.