Taiwan’s benchmark stock gauge climbed to its highest closing level since April 2022 as the artificial intelligence theme regains momentum and foreign investors return.
The TWSE Index, or Taiex, rose 1.2% on Tuesday, with chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and MediaTek Inc. the biggest contributors. The measure has advanced 23% this year, compared with a 4.5% gain in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional peers.
TSMC — the main foundry used by Nvidia Corp. — is the island’s largest stock and accounts for more than a third of the Taiex’s rise this year. Signs that the broader semiconductor industry is bottoming out, along with the sustained boom in AI, have boosted the company’s shares about 11% this month alone. The stock rose Tuesday along with other AI names ahead of Nvidia’s results.
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Foreign investors have supported the market recently, buying Taiwan’s stocks on a net basis for three-straight weeks. That marked a turnaround after four-straight months of outlfows.
Taiwan equities resumed gains in November, as tech stocks have benefitted globally from bets that the Federal Reserve is close to ending its campaign of tightening monetary policy.
“The potential end to the Fed rate-hike cycle and weaker dollar benefits the tech heavy market as interest-rate risks decline,” said Marvin Chen, strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.
