Taiwan shares end up above 20,000 point mark

Taipei, April 28 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan moved higher Monday to push the Taiex above the 20,000-point mark for the first time since U.S. President Donald Trump announced high tariffs in early April, sparked by a tech rally in the United States, dealers said.

The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark index, ended up 161.68 points, or 0.81 percent, at 20,034.41 after moving between 19,972.07 and 20,073.75. Turnover totaled NT$215.45 billion (US$6.63 billion).

Led by the bellwether electronics sector, which rose 0.76 percent after a 1.26 percent increase in the tech-heavy Nasdaq index on Friday, the Taiex closed above 20,000 for the first time since April 2, when it ended at 21,298.22.

"Today's buying reflected a continued rally on U.S. markets, which showed signs of stabilizing after the tariff shocks," MasterLink Securities analyst Tom Tang said. "I think the worst resulting from the tariff impact is over."

Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the most heavily weighted stock here, rose 1.01 percent to close at NT$897.00, contributing more than 70 points to the Taiex's rise.

"Boosted by TSMC, the Taiex jumped over technical hurdles ahead of 20,000 points, paving the way to challenging the next technical resistance ahead of the 60-day moving average of around 21,800 points," Tang said.

Global Unichip Corp., TSMC's application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design subsidiary, gained 5.21 percent to end at NT$1,030.00, while smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. fell 2.17 percent to close at NT$1,350.00.

IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co. ended down 0.36 percent at NT$137.00.

Also in the electronics sector, iPhone assembler and artificial intelligence maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., second to TSMC in terms of market value, rose 2.52 percent to close at NT$142.50.

Quanta Computer Inc., which said over the weekend that its AI server clients have not scaled back orders despite the U.S. tariff policies, closed 4.26 percent higher at NT$245.00.

"In addition to electronics stocks, the financial sector also served as an anchor (up 0.44 percent) of the Taiex on hopes of generous cash dividend payouts," Tang said.

CTBC Financial Holding Co., which announced last week it will pay a cash dividend of NT$2.3 per share, the second highest in the company's history, rose 2.84 percent to close at NT$38.00.

Cathay Financial Holding Co. added 0.92 percent to end at NT$54.60, but Fubon Financial Holding Co. fell 0.25 percent to close at NT$79.20.

In the old economy sector, Teco Electric & Machinery Co. rose 2.97 percent to close at NT$48.50, and Chung-Hsin Electric & Machinery Manufacturing Corp. gained 2.03 percent to end at NT$125.50.

Bucking the upturn, Formosa Plastics Corp. lost 0.73 percent to close at NT$33.85 and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. ended down 1.20 percent at NT$24.75.

"The Taiwan dollar has been on the rise against the U.S. dollar so it's possible that foreign institutional investors bring more funds into the local market," Tang said.

According to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$5.87 billion in shares on the market Monday.