Stocks dropped for a sixth day, led by Mega Financial Holdings Co (
The central bank may lower rates to stimulate lending and ease debtors' payment burdens, a local newspaper reported, citing a central bank official it didn't identify. Loans by the nation's major financial institutions fell for a 19th month on an annual basis in January, according to the latest central bank data released on Feb. 25.
"Although lower interest rates cut banks' costs, the banks haven't been able to push out loans so their profits actually suffer," said Parker Wu (
Wu said he sold all his shares of financial services companies.
The TAIEX dropped 59.54, or 1.4 percent, to close at 4,260.45. More than nine stocks fell for every two that rose. The benchmark has shed 5.9 percent since March 4. The value of trade was NT$42.4 billion, about 45 percent less than the daily average in the past three months.
MSCI Taiwan futures for March delivery in Singapore dropped 1.5 percent to 180.40, while the Taiwan Futures Index lost 2 percent to 4250.
Banks and insurers were the key index's biggest decliners as a group.
Mega Financial, the nation's third-largest financial services company by market value, fell NT$0.70, or 4.2 percent, to NT$15.80.
First Financial Holding Co (
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world's second-largest maker of computer chips on a subcontracting basis, climbed NT$0.10, or 0.5 percent, to NT$19.30. Sales last month rose 51 percent from a year earlier.
CMC Magnetics Corp (
EVA Airways Corp (
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by