Institutional Investors See Taiwan Stocks Potentially Challenging 35,000 Points; Beware of Volatile Warfare

A ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran for two weeks boosted market sentiment, with major U.S. stock indices surging on April 8th. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1325.46 points, or 2.85%, closing at 47909.92 points. The S&P 500 index rose 165.96 points, or 2.51%, closing at 6782.81 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index climbed 617.14 points, or 2.80%, to close at 22634.99 points, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged even more, by 507.05 points, or 6.34%, to close at 8510.92 points. In terms of individual stocks, semiconductor shares performed strongly. Intel surged $6.04, or 11.42%, to close at $58.95; DRAM manufacturer Micron rose $29.15, or 7.72%, to close at $406.73. Memory module maker Sandisk soared $70.1, or 9.86%, to close at $780.9, and NVIDIA rose $3.98, or 2.23%, to close at $182.08. TSMC ADR also increased by $20.58, or 5.96%, to close at $365.9. Yang Li-kai, a fund manager at Yuanta Securities Investment Trust, analyzed that after yesterday's strong rebound, Taiwan stocks quickly reversed their previous technical weakness, now less than a thousand points away from the historical high of 35579.34 points. However, he cautioned that variables still exist in the upcoming U.S.-Iran peace talks, and short-term geopolitical risks could once again affect market sentiment. Yang Li-kai believes that based on historical experience, when the manufacturing industry is in an upward cycle, the stock market is primarily driven by economic conditions rather than inflation. He thinks that the strong demand for AI has become a structural export and profit moat for Taiwan, which can help offset the pressure of geopolitical factors on Taiwan's fundamentals. (Editor: Chang Chun-mao) 1150409