00:00As investors are saying goodbye to the year of the snake, Taiwan's stock market is celebrating record gains.
00:05Now, with the year of the horse coming, many are hoping for similar returns.
00:13In the closing ceremony before Lunar New Year on Wednesday,
00:16the Taiwan Stock Exchange celebrated its strong growth,
00:19with Taiwan stocks overcoming an initial drop early in the year,
00:22brought about by U.S. tariff threats and an AI bubble.
00:26Taiwan's total market cap passed roughly 3.2 trillion U.S. dollars,
00:30upping Taiwan's global ranking to seventh by late last year.
00:34Taiwan's main stock index, the TAI-X, grew by over 42 percent from the last Lunar New Year holiday.
00:40Growth was driven by AI hardware and led by chip giant TSMC,
00:45with continued demand for semiconductors underpinning market momentum.
00:49The Taiwan Stock Exchange chair emphasized the new milestones this year.
01:18The ceremony also invited a special guest, Taiwanese badminton Olympic medalist,
01:23and now ambassador at large Dai Ziying.
01:26The chair said Dai represents the spirit of not giving up,
01:29just as Taiwanese companies this year refused to do so in the face of fierce international competition.
01:45In the year of the horse, the Taiwan U.S. trade deal and tech cooperation could signal a foundation for
01:50continued growth.
01:51With such records in the year of the snake, it may be hard to beat,
01:54but both investors and citizens are hoping that the year of the horse will gallop into another record year.
02:00Devin Tsai and Lily Lamatina in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.
02:04Thanks for joining us.
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