Taiwan shares end at fresh high despite Middle East unease

Taipei, April 22 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed at another new high Wednesday despite uncertainties stemming from military conflicts in the Middle East, as buying in the electronics sector continued amid robust global demand, dealers said.

The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE)'s benchmark index, ended up 273.36 points, or 0.73 percent, at 37,878.47 after moving between 37,623.38 and 38,096.88. Turnover totaled NT$946.03 billion (US$29.77 billion).

Despite mixed U.S. markets overnight, the local main board kept moving higher, led by tech stocks, in particular, those that had lagged behind the Taiex for some time, Taishin Securities analyst Tom Tang said.

"In a market awash in liquidity, investors appeared willing to chase tech stocks sitting on strong global demand for AI applications resilient to geopolitical unease," Tang said.

"While TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) took a pause today, buying rotated out of the stock to other market laggards, pushing up the Taiex to another closing high," Tang said.

TSMC, which accounts for over 40 percent of total market value, closed unchanged at NT$2,050.00 after coming off a high of NT$2,070.00 in last-ditch selling after recent significant gains. "For TSMC, it was technical in nature with nothing to do with its fundamentals," Tang said.

On rotational buying, AI server maker and iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. rose 4.74 percent to end at NT$221.00, and smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. soared 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, to close at NT$2,295.00.

Scientech Corp., TSMC's IC assembly equipment supplier, also surged 10 percent to end at NT$847.00 and United Microelectronics Corp., a smaller contract chipmaker, gained 3.15 percent to close at 78.60. But, memory chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. ended down 0.45 percent at NT$219.00.

"Local investors who dominated the trading preferred tech stocks over old economy ones," Tang said.

Paper maker Baolong International Co. shed 2.05 percent to close at NT$11.95 and rival YFY Inc. lost 1.96 percent to end at NT$25.00. In addition, Fortune Electric Co. dropped 0.44 percent to close at NT$915.00, and Allis Electric Co. also fell 0.44 percent to end at NT$113.50.

Bucking the downturn, Evergreen Marine Corp., Taiwan's largest container cargo shipper, rose 0.25 percent to close at NT$202.00, and rival Wan Hai Lines Inc. ended up 0.68 percent at NT$74.50.

In the financial sector, which rose only 0.07 percent, Fubon Financial Holding Co. gained 0.68 percent to close at NT$88.30, while Yuanta Financial Holding Co. shed 1.76 percent to end at NT$50.10.

"Judging from today's movement, I think the Taiex has faced technical resistance ahead of 38,000 points," Tang said. "If any technical pullback is possible, the nearest support could emerge as the index moves closer to 36,880 points, the 10-day moving average."

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$11.61 billion of shares on the main board Wednesday.