Taiex rises led by AI-related stocks, with Nvidia to resume H20 China sales

Taipei, July 15 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed higher, led by artificial intelligence related stocks Tuesday, as American AI chip designer Nvidia Corp. announced it has secured approval to resume sales of H20 chips to China, dealers said.

The Taiex, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), ended up 220.97 points, or 0.98 percent, at 22,835.94 after moving between 22,588.26 and 22,888.23. Turnover totaled NT$309.79 billion (US$10.57 billion).

The market opened little changed and continued in a narrow range until news surfaced that Nvidia has won approval from the U.S. government to resume sales of H20 chip, the downgraded version of its Hopper lineup, to China, which boosted the main board's momentum with AI related stocks in focus, dealers said.

"Investors here simply seized on Nvidia's positive leads to hunt bargains after the Taiex pulled back yesterday," Moore Securities Investment Consulting analyst Adam Lin said. "AI-related stocks received most of the market attention today, serving as an anchor to today's rebound."

"The buying also showed investors are betting Nvidia shares will go up on the U.S. market later today, providing incentives for local electronics stocks to go up tomorrow," Lin said.

Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the most heavily weighted stock in Taiwan, which rolls out chips for Nvidia, rose 1.37 percent to close at NT$1,110.00. The stock's gains contributed about 120 points to the Taiex's rise.

Scientech Corp., a TSMC's IC assembly equipment supplier, grew 2.69 percent to end at NT$343.00, and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer AIchip Technologies Inc. gained 1.81 percent to close at NT$3,370.00.

Among other AI-related stocks, shares in AI server maker Inventec Corp. rose 5.16 percent to end at NT$43.80, Wistron Corp., another AI server supplier, added 2.56 percent to close at NT$120.00, and AI graphics card vendor Giga-Byte Technology Co. gained 2.53 percent to end at NT$283.50.

IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which also produces AI servers, rose 1.56 percent to close at NT$163.00.

"Today's spotlight was on the electronics sector, while many non-tech stocks lost luster and were more mixed," Lin said.

Textile brand Far Eastern New Century Corp. shed 5.04 percent to close at NT$29.20, while Eclat Textile Co. rose 0.92 percent to end at NT$383.50.

Elsewhere in the old economy sector, Evergreen Marine Corp., the largest container cargo shipper in Taiwan, lost 0.99 percent to close at NT$199.50, while rival Wan Hai Lines Ltd. ended unchanged at NT$90.00.

Outperforming the old economy sector, Formosa Plastics Corp. rose 2.13 percent to close at NT$35.95 on its ex-dividend date, while Formosa Petrochemical Corp. lost 0.14 percent to close at NT$36.35.

In the financial sector, which rose only 0.08 percent, Fubon Financial Holding Co. gained 1.09 percent to end at NT$83.50, but Mega Financial Holding Co. shed 1.18 percent to end at NT$42.00.

"Foreign institutional investors still hold many short position futures contracts. It is worth watching whether they will dump stocks on the spot market to profit in futures tomorrow, the settlement date of July futures contracts," Lin said.

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$18.35 billion worth of shares on the main board Tuesday.