Taiwan Stocks Could Rise in Week Ahead Following Recent Slump
TAIPEI, Aug 4 (AFP) - The Taiwan stock market could head higher in the week ahead as investors hunt for bargains after the market bottomed out in recent sessions, dealers said Friday. "Investors are expected to hunt for bargains after the market hit its bottom at 7,800 points this week," said Alex Yeh, analyst of President Securities.
Over the week to Friday, the Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index fell 218.73 points or 2.7 percent to 7,925.20 on average turnover of 54.45 billion dollars.
"Buying interest will target primarily on semiconductor shares with high-earning prospects," he said.
Capital Securities analyst Daniel Hsin said technology stocks such as United Microelectronics Corp. would lead the upward trend since their prices were at a relatively low point following recent declines. In the near term, Yeh said the market has a good chance to test 8,400 but the daily turnover needs to exceed 100 billion Taiwan dollars (3.22 billion US) in order to sustain the upturn. But some other analysts said the market was still far from any major turnaround in the near term. "Investors are likely to remain wary with the government-linked funds near depletion while foreign institutional investors continue to stay on the sideline," said Alex Chio, analyst at Dresdner RCM Global Investors Securities Investment Consulting Co. By Wednesday, the four major government-linked funds had pumped 335.7 billion Taiwan dollars into the bourse over the past few months, it was reported Thursday. The amount accounted for nearly 80 percent of a combined 422.5 billion dollars allowed for equity investment from the postal savings deposits fund, labour insurance fund, labour pension fund, and civil service pension fund. |
