Taipei: Shares in Taiwan closed little changed Wednesday, with many investors staying on the sidelines at a time of lingering concerns over tariff threats from the Trump administration, dealers said. The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark weighted index, ended down 12.90 points, or 0.06 percent, at 22,260.29 after moving between 22,235.89 and 22,398.12. Turnover totaled NT$214.95 billion (US$6.50 billion), down from NT$256.97 billion a session earlier.
According to Focus Taiwan, Mega International Investment Services analyst Alex Huang noted the reduced turnover as an indication of investor reluctance to chase prices before the White House announces its reciprocal tariff policy expected by April 2. "That's why whenever the index went up, investors just pocketed the gains," Huang said. Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the most heavily weighted stock, fell 1.01 percent to close at NT$980.00, costing the Taiex about 120 points due to its decline.
Among other semiconductor stocks, MediaTek Inc. dropped 0.66 percent to end at NT$1,515.00, and United Microelectronics Corp. lost 0.67 percent to close at NT$44.55. However, ASE Technology Holding Co. ended up 0.62 percent at NT$161.50, showing resilience in select tech heavyweights outside the semiconductor industry.
IPhone assembler and AI server maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. rose 0.61 percent to close at NT$166.00. Other AI server suppliers, Quanta Computer Inc. and Wistron Corp., also saw gains, closing at NT$252.00 and NT$105.50, respectively. Buying rotated to non-tech stocks, providing additional support to the Taiex, with Shihlin Electric and Engineering Corp. and Fortune Electric Co. seeing significant gains.
Elsewhere in the old economy sector, Asia Cement Corp. and TCC Group Holdings Co. experienced increases, while the financial sector rose 0.45 percent, with Cathay Financial Holding Co. and Fubon Financial Holding Co. seeing modest gains. Huang anticipates that the Taiex will continue to move in a narrow range around the 240-day moving average before the U.S. reciprocal tariff actions are launched.
According to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$266.13 million in shares on the market Wednesday.