P.M. BRIEFING : Doom-Sayers Defied, Market Soars
Taiwan’s fearless investors sent the stock market soaring to a record high today, ignoring even the advice of their Chinese fortune tellers who had predicted a day of disaster.
The weighted index jumped by 204 points to 10,172.46 as hoardes of small investors, who often take investment tips from psychics, decided to have another punt.
The previous record was 10,105.81 set on June 19. The index has soared by 108% since the start of this year.
“People just didn’t believe the fortune tellers this time,” said Dickson Ho, an analyst with W. I. Carr.
Turnover was moderately heavy at $4.5 billion.
Soothsayers in southern Taiwan last week began forecasting the market would crash today, and dealers said this accounted for its initially lackluster performance this week.
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