BENGALURU: Taiwan stocks rallied to all-time highs on Thursday, leading emerging Asian equities back to pre-Iran war levels, as optimism grew over a possible deal to end the conflict, with reports of Tehran potentially allowing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz boosting risk appetite.
The MSCI gauges tracking EM Asia equities and global emerging market stocks rose more than 1 percent each, touching their highest levels since February 27.
Taiwan’s stock index rose over 1 percent to hit a record high of 37.135.55 points.
The index has gained nearly 30 percent so far this year on the back of surging demand for high-performance chips required for AI workloads.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s top contract chipmaker and Asia’s most valuable firm, logged a 58 percent jump in quarterly profit to record levels, handily beating market expectations.
Positive sentiment from the equity market also spilled over to currency trading, with the Taiwan dollar rising 0.4 percent, touching its highest since March 3.
Inki Cho, a financial market strategist at global fintech firm Exness, said growth in the Taiwan dollar was underpinned by robust semiconductor and AI-related export inflows, adding that “broader USD weakness adds a further tailwind.”
South Korea’s KOSPI, another tech-heavy index in East Asia, surged over 2 percent to hit its highest since February 27.
Stocks in Thailand seesawed on Thursday, last trading 0.7 percent lower, following a long holiday.
The Bank of Thailand earlier in the day cut its growth forecast for 2026, saying Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy faces slower growth this year due to the Middle East war.
Stocks in the Philippines gained as much as 0.6 percent, while those in Singapore gave up early gains to trade slightly lower.
In Peru, the sol depreciated sharply overnight to a more than one-week low, while MSCI’s benchmark for Peru’s share index tumbled more than 7 percent as uncertainties prevailed over the election outcome in the Latin American country.
Currencies in emerging Asia also staged a recovery on Thursday after a subdued showing in the previous session.
Comments