Taipei, April 23 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan recorded their second highest daily point gain in history Wednesday, soaring more than 800 points, amid the possible easing of trade tensions between the United States and China, dealers said.
The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s benchmark weighted index, ended up 845.71 points, or 4.50 percent, at 19,639.14 after moving between 19,163.61 and 19,639.14. Turnover totaled NT$269.098 billion (US$8.28 billion).
The point gain in the Taiex was the second highest on record, trailing only a 1,608.27-point spike on April 10 after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended for 90 days most of the draconian “reciprocal” tariffs he announced on April 2 (U.S. time).
“Today’s upturn was completely driven by news that encouraged investors to think trade friction between Washington and Beijing is easing,” Mega International Investment Services analyst Alex Huang said.
He was referring to an interview in which U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expected “there will be a de-escalation” in Trump’s trade war with China in the “very near future.”
Bessent’s remarks boosted the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 2.66 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index by 2.71 percent overnight.
“Now, U.S. stock futures are continuing the uptrend, pointing to a higher opening later today,” Huang said. “It was no surprise that the Taiex staged a strong rebound, led by large cap electronics stocks.”
After a 2.39 percent rise in its American depositary receipts (ADRs) overnight, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) surged 6.99 percent to close at NT$873.00.
That contributed about 460 points alone to the Taiex’s gains and helped the electronics index move higher by 5.67 percent.
The buying in TSMC spread to other semiconductor stocks.
IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co. soared 7.84 percent to end at NT$137.50, and smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. rose 5.38 percent to close at NT$1,370.00.
TSMC’s IC assembly equipment supplier Scientech Corp. rose 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, to end at NT$264.00.
Artificial intelligence related stocks also attracted strong interest.
AI server maker and iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, rose 5.30 percent to close at NT$139.00, and AI graphics card vendor Giga-Byte Technology Co. ended up 5.26 percent at NT$220.00.
Huang said bargain hunters turned active throughout the session after recent heavy losses, with non-tech stocks also helped by the news that trade war tensions could ease.
In the old economy sector, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. gained 3.26 percent to close at NT$25.35, and Formosa Plastics Corp. rose 2.89 percent to end at NT$35.65.
In addition, King’s Town Construction Co. grew 4.89 percent to close at NT$47.20 and Goldsun Building Materials Co. added 3.53 percent to end at NT$39.55.
The financial sector rose 1.37 percent, with Fubon Financial Holding Co. up 2.59 percent to close at NT$79.30, E. Sun Financial Holding Co. up 2.21 percent to end at NT$27.80 and Cathay Financial Holding Co. up 2.10 percent to close at NT$53.60.
“Despite the gains in the Taiex, turnover stayed low, indicating many investors were reluctant to chase prices, fearing an unpredictable Trump will say something to dampen investor sentiment and hurt the markets again,” Huang said.
“Also, how Trump handles tariffs on semiconductors remains a big issue in the market,” Huang said.
According to Taiwan Stock Exchange data, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$26.37 billion in shares on the market Wednesday.
