TSMC Sales Update In Focus

Taiwan dollar is slightly stronger, USD/TWD down 0.025 at 27.697, the pair finished slightly lower yesterday but off best levels after bouncing off 27.68. TWD retreated from session highs as domestic equity markets came under pressure, exchange data showed foreign investors sold a net TWD 667.9m of Taiwan stocks yesterday. The sell off came despite reports that Taiwan would extend tax cuts for the biotech sector by 10 years.

• On the coronavirus front Taiwan received a second shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines donated by its private sector yesterday. The shipment of 910,000 doses, flown in from Luxembourg, follows the arrival of the first batch of 930,000 doses on September 2. The two shipments are part of a joint donation of 15 million doses from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Hon Hai Precision Industry Company
• There are no economic releases on the docket today, markets look ahead to a sales update from TSMC due later today. In a note earlier this week Goldman Sachs said it expects stronger revenue growth and profitability on the back of a forecast price hike for wafers and solid customer demand.