Taiwan shares end higher on follow-through buying

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan moved higher Tuesday, extending momentum from a session earlier to close at the day's high as a technical rebound continued, dealers said.

The Taiex, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), ended up 198.22 points, or 0.99 percent, at 20,232.63 after coming off a low of 20,007.30. Turnover totaled NT$238.64 billion (US$7.39 billion).

After the main board closed above the 20,00 point mark Monday for the first time since April 2, when the Trump administration announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs, the market opened slightly lower Tuesday but soon regained its footing as bargain hunters turned active to take advantage of recent heavy losses caused by tariff fears, dealers said.

"Today's buying focused on non-tech stocks, while the electronics sector saw its gains capped after reports said China's Huawei Technologies is ready to test its newest artificial intelligence chip to rival Nvidia Corp.'s," Concord Securities analyst Kerry Huang said.

The electronics index rose 0.99 percent with the semiconductor sub-index up 0.64 percent after contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the most heavily weighted stock here, gained 0.56 percent to close at NT$902.00.

TSMC's American depositary receipts lost 1.03 percent and Nvidia shares shed 2.05 percent overnight after a Wall Street Journal report said Huawei has approached some Chinese tech companies about testing its new AI chip Ascend 910D, which could match Nvidia's H100 chip.

"It was no surprise that TSMC stayed in consolidation mode and so did the entire tech sector," Huang said.

Among other semiconductor stocks in the local market, smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. rose 1.09 percent to close at NT$1,370.00, while application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer AIchip Technologies Inc. fell 0.68 percent to end at NT$2175.00.

Select AI-related stocks were also affected by the Huawei report with iPhone assembler and AI server maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., second to TSMC in terms of market value, rose only 0.35 percent to close at NT$143.00 and Quanta Computer Inc., another AI server supplier, lost 1.02 percent to end at NT$242.50.

"Buying rotated to old economy and financial stocks, but I prefer to say the gains were technical in nature after recent heavy losses," Huang said.

In the electric machinery industry, which rose 3.73 percent, Fortune Electric Co. gained 4.81 percent to close at NT$425.00, and Shihlin Electric & Engineering Corp. added 2.85 percent to end at NT$144.50.

The petrochemical sector rose 1.94 percent, with Formosa Plastics Corp. up 2.07 percent to close at NT$34.55 and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. up 1.64 percent to end at NT$30.95. In addition, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. and Formosa Petrochemical Corp. added 1.41 percent and 1.87 percent, respectively, to close at NT$25.10 and NT$35.45.

Amid hopes of high cash dividend payouts, the financial sector rose 1.49 percent with Fubon Financial Holding Co. up 2.78 percent to end at NT$81.40 and Cathay Financial Holding Co. up 2.01 percent to close at NT$55.70.

"Despite the gains in the Taiex, turnover remained low as caution prevailed with many investors still waiting for Trump's move to tax semiconductors," Huang said. "The index could see high technical hurdles ahead of 20,900 points."

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$9.40 billion worth of shares on the main board on Tuesday.