Taiwan equities ended higher on Wednesday, with the Taiwan Weighted index finishing the session up 1.48% as gains in the Plastic, Chemical and Optoelectronic sectors pushed the market higher.
Leading the winners on the Taiwan Weighted were PCL Technologies Inc (TW:4977), ITEQ Corp (TW:6213) and Genius Electronic Optical Co Ltd (TW:3406). PCL Technologies advanced 10.00% - adding 15.50 points to close at 170.50. ITEQ Corp rose 10.00% - up 53.00 points to finish at 583.00, reaching an all-time high in the session. Genius Electronic Optical gained 10.00% - or 69.00 points - to end at 759.00.
On the downside, several marine transport names posted notable declines. Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (TW:2609) fell 9.43% - down 6.00 points to close at 57.60. Wan Hai Lines Ltd (TW:2615) slipped 9.09% - losing 11.50 points to finish at 115.00. U-Ming Marine Transport Corp (TW:2606) dropped 7.69% - or 6.00 points - to 72.00 at the close.
Market breadth was strongly positive, with 840 stocks advancing versus 205 declining on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, and 79 issues finishing unchanged.
In commodities trading, crude oil for October delivery fell 1.87% - a decrease of 1.54 - to settle at $80.82 a barrel. Brent oil for November delivery was down 1.63% - off 1.42 - at $85.85 a barrel. The December Gold Futures contract rose 0.05% - a gain of 2.41 - to trade at $4,696.91 a troy ounce.
Currency moves were modest. USD/TWD was essentially flat, changing by 0.01% to 31.85. TWD/CNY was unchanged at 0.21, a 0.09% move noted in the session. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 98.93.
The trading day displayed a clear divergence between strong performance in certain technology-related segments and weakness among shipping stocks. Overall, the Taiwan market closed with broad participation on the upside while commodity markets showed mixed directionality.