Taiwan Stock Market Consolidates Sideways Awaiting US-Iran Negotiation Results

The three major weighted stocks showed mixed movements. TSMC opened flat and then turned negative, falling by as much as NT$20 to NT$1930. Delta Electronics rose by as much as NT$40 to NT$1705, continuing to hit a new record high. Foxconn fell by as much as NT$3.5 to NT$198.

Iran accused Israel of launching a large-scale attack on Lebanon, violating the ceasefire agreement. It was reported that shipping in the Strait of Hormuz suddenly halted again, causing international crude oil prices to rebound by about 3%, which boosted petrochemical-related stocks such as Nan Ya Plastics, China General Plastics, and Delta Chemical, whose stock prices rose by about half a limit in early trading today.

Liang En-yi, fund manager at Cathay Securities Investment Trust, analyzed that the US-Iran military conflict has continued for over 5 weeks, and recent market sentiment has been volatile due to changes in the war. Although the external environment seems turbulent, the fundamentals of the Taiwan stock market have become the core driving force supporting the market's upward consolidation.

Liang En-yi analyzed that compared to last year's stock market crash caused by reciprocal tariffs, which stemmed from extreme uncertainty about the reconstruction of the global trade order, the market volatility caused by the US-Iran conflict is more about short-term risk aversion triggered by geopolitics. The busy season for investor conferences will kick off in April, including TSMC's investor conference on the 16th. It is expected that market attention will gradually shift from the Middle East conflict to the orders and outlook of the technology industry. (Editor: Chang Chun-mao) 1150409