Rising U.S. stocks and futures night session boost confidence
Continued return of AI-themed buying, coupled with falling international oil prices lifting market sentiment, U.S. stocks all rose on Tuesday, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up over 3%. TAIFEX night-session futures rose 774 points, laying a strong foundation for today's Taipei stock market open, with market funds clearly returning to equities.
Taiwan stocks open up over 700 points as heavyweights rise together
The Taipei stock market opened today up 306.56 points at 46,402.79 points, then extended gains to over 700 points. As the broader market opened higher, small and mid-cap stocks also moved higher, with the OTC index opening up 3.26 points at 382.46 points. High-volume strong stocks at the open were 友達, 力積電, 東台, 富喬, 台玻; high-volume weak stocks at the open were 德淵, 濱川, 宏碁, 振發, 華南金. Heavyweight stocks all strengthened, with 台積電 opening up NT$20 at NT$2,420; 聯發科 opening up NT$80 at NT$4,040; 台達電 opening up NT$55 at NT$1,650.
Revived AI themes support semiconductor rally
After Claude developer Anthropic filed for a Nasdaq listing, market enthusiasm for AI themes revived. In addition, Meta's US$25 billion stock offering drew subscription demand 達發 5 times the issuance size, also supporting AI investment momentum. Oracle will offer cloud services based on Cerebras computers in its data centers, expanding its AI computing product lineup and driving semiconductor stocks to extend Monday's gains.
Focus on Fed rate decision and oil price trends
The Federal Reserve will announce its rate decision on Wednesday, with the market widely expecting no change this time. The focus will be on Chair Warsh's comments on inflation and whether rates will be raised again at year-end. Amid lower international oil prices, all four major U.S. stock indexes rose, with the Dow Jones up 15.99 points or 0.03% at 52,377.57; the Nasdaq up 308.43 points or 1.18% at 26,477.81; the S&P 500 up 45.83 points or 0.60% at 7,722.60; and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 399.04 points or 3.60% at 11,482.51. TAIFEX night-session futures moved from lower to higher, reaching 47,000 points intraday and closing up 774 points or 1.68% at 46,880 points; 台積電 after-hours futures closed up NT$42 or 1.75% at NT$2,438.