Taiwan’s Taiwan Weighted Index gained 356.23 points, or 0.77%, to close at 46,331.45, while wafer foundry UMC (2303.TW) surged 9.7% from NT$118.5 to its daily limit-up price of NT$130. Trading volume in UMC approached 320,000 lots. Foreign investors made net purchases of NT$41.59 billion, about $1.3 billion, including NT$11.4 billion, or approximately $360.5 million, in UMC across nearly 89,000 lots. The buying made UMC the most-purchased listed stock by foreign investors. Taiwan’s eight major government-linked banks took the opposite position, selling nearly 20,000 UMC lots and withdrawing about NT$2.54 billion, or $80.2 million, making it their largest listed-stock sale of the day. Foreign buying focused on wafer foundries, financial companies and panel makers, while government-linked funds sold several of the same stocks. UMC’s rally followed an optimistic earnings outlook for high single-digit quarter-over-quarter wafer shipment growth in the third quarter, stable average selling prices, gross margin in the mid-30% range and capacity utilization potentially above 90%. The company also raised full-year capital expenditure to $2 billion, or approximately NT$63 billion. Analysts said UMC’s heavy volume could help reverse its prolonged weakness if the NT$130 limit-up price holds, although continued government-linked fund selling could create near-term supply pressure.