Taiwan shares edge up after recovering from earlier losses

Taipei, July 2 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed slightly higher Wednesday on last-ditch buying focused on select electronics and old economy heavyweights, but market sentiment remained cautious over the United States' uncertain tariff policies, dealers said.

The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's weighted index, ended up 24.02 points, or 0.11 percent, at the day's high of 22,577.74 after hitting a low of 22,396.26. Turnover totaled NT$297.60 billion (US$10.218 billion).

The market opened down 0.40 percent and the weakness continued, led by the bellwether electronics sector in the wake of a 0.82 percent decline on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index overnight.

But then buying interest resurfaced late in the session to move the Taiex into positive territory, dealers said.

"Despite a fall on the Nasdaq index overnight, the local tech sector still lagged behind its American counterpart," Cathay Futures Consultant analyst Tsai Ming-han said.

"The late buying just helped the local electronics sector play catch-up by picking up large cap stocks, including TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.)."

"Turnover remained thin, however, indicating that many investors were uneasy as the end of a 90-day pause on tariffs announced by Washington on April 9 approached," Tsai said.

TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock here, closed unchanged at NT$1,085.00 after coming off a low of NT$1,070.00. The stock's comeback helped the Taiex recover about 120 points.

After benefiting from bargain hunting, iPhone assembler and artificial intelligence maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. gained 1.57 percent to end at NT$162.00, and Quanta Computer Inc., another AI server supplier, added 0.36 percent to close at NT$2,490.00.

Also in the tech sector, smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. rose 1.57 percent to end at NT$1,295.00 and IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co. added 1.07 percent to close at NT$141.50.

In addition, Global Unichip Corp., TSMC's application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design unit, ended up 1.15 percent at NT$1,325.00.

"Late session buying also lifted some old economy stocks. Today, stocks under the conglomerate Formosa Petrochemical Group were highlighted," Tsai said.

Formosa Plastics Corp. gained 1.12 percent to close at NT$36.00 and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. gained 2.72 percent to end at NT$28.35. Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. added 1.09 percent to close at NT$23.10, and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. ended up 2.67 percent at NT$38.50.

Elsewhere in the old economy sector, textile brand Far Eastern New Century Corp. rose 0.75 percent to close at NT$33.45, and rival Makalot Industrial Co. rose 5.87 percent to end at NT$252.50.

In the financial sector, which underperformed the Taiex, Cathay Financial Holding Co. lost 1.26 percent to close at NT$62.60, and Fubon Financial Holding Co. dropped 0.36 percent to end at NT$82.90.

"A stronger Taiwan dollar will lead more foreign funds to enter Taiwan and liquidity driven gains on the Taiex are possible," Tsai said. "Despite the tariff issues, the index could see the nearest technical support ahead of 22,200 points, the 20-day moving average."

Tsai urged investors to watch for the upcoming U.S. nonfarm payroll data due Thursday for more clues about the U.S. economy's direction and the impact of the limited tariffs actually imposed so far.

According to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$7.07 billion in shares on the market Wednesday.