Stocks fell for the fourth day, led by Chinatrust Financial Holdings Co (
Taiwan Semiconductor Man-ufacturing Co (台積電) advanced after National Semiconductor Corp of the US said it will give it more business.
"TSMC is positioned to be the biggest beneficiary when major US chipmakers pare internal productions to cut costs," said Mike Shiao, who manages the NT$1.1 billion (US$32 million) Growth Fund at Invesco Taiwan Ltd.
The TAIEX shed 2.35, or 0.1 percent to close at 4,548.35. The benchmark climbed as much as 1 percent in intra-day trading. Four stocks fell for every three that gained. For the week, the index rose 1.2 percent.
Trading was worth NT$49.9 billion, about 40 percent below the daily average in the past three months.
Chinatrust Financial dropped NT$0.50, or 1.7 percent, to NT$28.70. Mega Financial lost NT$0.10, or 0.6 percent, to NT$17.20.
The nation's financial market, which has allowed the formation of 14 financial holding companies since 2001, can only support as many as 10 lenders, a local newspaper reported, citing a research report by the central bank.
TSMC rose NT$0.80, or 1.8 percent, to NT$44.90. United Microelectronics Corp (
California-based National Semiconductor expanded an agreement to order more products from TSMC, after saying it plans to fire 5 percent of its employees and sell some slower-growing businesses.
Separately, Merrill Lynch & Co raised its recommendation on the semiconductor industry to "slightly positive" from "negative," a day after Morgan Stanley raise ratings on Intel Corp.
Picvue Electronics Ltd (
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), the nation's third-largest maker of computer-memory chips, rose NT$0.30, or 3.2 percent, to NT$9.60. The company forecast demand will recover in the second half of this year, according to chairman Frank Huang (
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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