The TAIEX fell, led by Chunghwa Telecom Co (
Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (
The TAIEX slid 10.96, or 0.2 percent, to 4,530.40. The key index moved between a 0.4 percent loss and a 0.5 percent gain in intra-day trading. The value of trade was NT$43.6 billion, almost a third less than the daily average in the past three months.
For the week, the index added 0.7 percent, its second weekly gain in three weeks.
MSCI Taiwan futures for April delivery in Singapore fell 0.1 percent to 193.90. The Taiwan Futures Index rose 0.1 percent to 4,516.
Chunghwa Telecom fell NT$2.50, or 4.8 percent, to NT$50. The government sold 4.5 percent of the 500 million shares of Chungwha Telecom on offer at NT$50 a share yesterday. The auction will continue to April 16.
"We aren't very positive on the stock," said Tom Lin, head of research at Franklin Templeton First Taiwan Securities Investment Trust Enterprise, that manages the equivalent of about US$143 million in equities. Lin cited price competition and falling call rates as damping the share's growth.
First Financial, owner of the nation's fourth-largest bank by assets, rose 50 cents, or 2.3 percent, to NT$22.40. Hua Nan Financial, owner of country's fifth-largest bank by assets, rose 50 cents, or 2.3 percent, to NT$22.30.
Moody's said it upgraded its ratings of the lenders to reflect their strong retail base, their importance as of the nation's major commercial banks and the supportive regulatory environment.
"Funds may be parking in bank stocks, whose price levels seem to be a buying opportunity now," said Lai Jan-hong, who helps manage the equivalent of US$29 million of stock at EnTrust Investment Trust Corp (
"Their profits after loss provisions are estimated to be even better next year," Lai said.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) rose NT$1, or 0.9 percent, to NT$118. The country's biggest maker of electronic products for other companies said March sales rose 35 percent to NT$22.12 billion from a year earlier.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained