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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 TAIEX rallies past 9,600 after holiday
A man dressed as the God of Wealth, second right, distributes fruit and candy to Taiwan Stock Exchange employees yesterday in Taipei. Photo: David Chang, EPA
PLAYING CATCH-UP: The local equity market followed its global peers, which had rallied earlier after Athens received a four-month extension on its debt problems
By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter
The TAIEX surged 99.86 points, or 1.05 percent, higher to 9,629.37 yesterday, the first trading day after the Lunar New Year holiday, as the local bourse sought to catch up with the global stock market rally, analysts said.
However, the stock rally failed to boost the local currency, which weakened 0.2 percent to NT$31.688 against the greenback in Taipei trading, the central bank said on its Web site, as the US economic recovery continued to lend support to its currency.
Foreign and domestic equity investors, who turned cautious prior to the holiday, breathed a sigh of relief now that Greece has secured a four-month extension for its debts, Marbo Securities Consulting Co （萬寶證券投顧） analyst Winson Wang （王榮旭） said by telephone.
As concern over Greece’s debt crisis and geopolitical uncertainty elsewhere eased, foreign institutional players bought a net NT$10.97 billion （US$346.2 million） of Taiwanese shares, while proprietary traders and mutual funds had net purchases of NT$619.48 million and NT$592.39 million respectively, Wang said, citing Taiwan Stock Exchange （TWSE） figures.
Technology and financial shares led the surge, with the semiconductor sub-index rising 1.35 percent, telecom plays climbing 1.6 percent, and financial and insurance stocks advancing 1.39 percent, TWSE statistics showed.
Hua Nan Securities Co （華南永昌投顧） chairman David Chu （儲祥生） said it was financial shares’ turn to grab the spotlight after taking a backseat earlier.
Semiconductor stocks continued to shine, thanks to their leading global technology edge, Chu said.
Trading volume expanded to NT$109.04 billion yesterday, compared with NT$76.75 billion on Feb. 13, the last session before the lunar holidays.
Wang and Chu said the TAIEX is likely to continue rising, but at a slower pace for the rest of the week.
US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was scheduled to testify before the US Congress yesterday and today, and investors would closely monitor her speech for clues on the Fed’s timetable for an interest rate hike, Wang said.
Investors are also bracing for likely lackluster corporate earnings this months due to fewer working days and a slower season.
“Apart from the risks, the landscape looks generally clear and bright ahead,” Wang said.
Meanwhile, the New Taiwan dollar might hover between NT$31.6 and NT$31.7 in the short term, traders said.
The NT dollar has little room to strengthen, given an ongoing soft patch for currencies in Japan, South Korea and China, Taiwan’s main trading rivals, a trader in a local bank said.
Turnover for the local currency stood at US$877 million on Taipei Forex Inc and US$588 million on the smaller Cosmos Foreign Exchange Market, data showed.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
