TAIEX rises 0.5% to close at record high

RESILIENT: The new US tariffs have had limited impact on Taiwanese equities, and the gain showed the market’s ability to absorb negative headlines, experts said Taiwanese equities closed at a record high yesterday in the first trading session after the Lunar New Year holiday, although renewed US tariff concerns tempered sentiment and limited follow-through buying despite abundant liquidity.The TAIEX rose 167.55 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 33,773 after giving back most of its earlier gains as selling pressure emerged in afternoon trade. Turnover totaled NT$902.081 billion (US$28.67 billion), the third-highest daily trading value on record, highlighting heightened volatility as investors adjusted positions and locked in profits following the market’s recent rally.Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said the market extended the momentum seen before the holiday, with gains spreading beyond large-cap stocks.Huang attributed the strength mainly to solid domestic economic fundamentals, saying that first-quarter performance for listed companies has been stronger than the typical seasonal slowdown, accompanied by rising turnover and improving stock price-trading volume dynamics.Artificial intelligence (AI)-related shares remained the dominant theme, supported by growing demand from global data centers and advanced computing applications. In particular, DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科) closed up 3.96 percent, while Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電) and Macronix International Co (旺宏) surged 9 percent and 5.08 percent respectively. The memory sector continued to benefit from improving pricing expectations and indirect AI-driven demand, Huang said.Institutional trading showed mixed positioning. Foreign investors were net buyers of NT$8.35 billion — providing key support to the market — proprietary traders posted a net sell of NT$11.47 billion while mutual funds trimmed NT$2.02 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed, which suggested that some domestic institutions were taking short-term profits.Uncertainties over potential new US tariffs have so far had limited impact on Taiwanese equities, as the Taiwan-US trade deal remains largely unchanged, Huang said.Taishin Securities Investment Advisory Co (台新投顧) vice chairman Mason Li (李鎮宇) said the post-holiday gain demonstrated the market’s resilience, and its ability to absorb negative headlines and maintain a bullish structure.The surge in market turnover reflected strong participation and active sector rotation, factors that supported share prices, Li said, adding that Washington’s proposed blanket global levies of up to 15 percent are unlikely to affect Taiwan’s semiconductor leaders, given their technological advantages and entrenched roles in global supply chains.In the near term, local stock trading is expected to remain range-bound, with investors likely to digest developments in global trade policy and other macroeconomic signals, he said.