Taiwan's stocks fell, led by automakers such as China Motor Co (
China reported 13 new cases and two more deaths from severe acute respiratory syndrome as disclosure of the outbreak widened to 15 provinces from 11. The Communist Party fired two top officials for trying to cover up the extent of the disease.
"Investors are dumping companies that count China as a big part of their revenue, fearing the SARS epidemic in China," said Eddie Chiu, who manages the NT$4 billion (US$115 million) Hitech Fund at First Global Investment Trust Co (
The TAIEX fell 10.18, or 0.2 percent, to close at 4,648.12. MSCI Taiwan futures for April delivery in Singapore fell 0.4 percent to 200.4, while the Taiwan Futures Index shed 0.1 percent to 4657. About six stocks fell for every five that gained.
China Motor, which makes Mitsubishi Motors Corp cars in Taiwan and China, tumbled NT$4.5, or 6.8 percent, to NT$61.5.
Yulon Motor Co (
Quanta Computer Inc, Taiwan's largest notebook computer maker, gained NT$2, or 2.9 percent, to NT$72 after a local Chinese-language newspaper reported that Nokia Oyj placed an order to buy mobile phone handsets from the Taiwanese company to cut costs.
Nanya Technology Corp (
Nanya Technology cut its pretax profit forecast to NT$2.1 billion and also cut its sales forecast by 22 percent to NT$30.6 billion, it said in a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange after the market closed on April 18.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (
The 144 million shares of Cathay Financial, held by International Commercial Bank, were worth about NT$6.3 billion at Cathay Financial's closing price of NT$44 on April 18. Mega Financial rose NT$0.1, or 0.6 percent, to NT$17.6.
Mosel Vitelic Inc (
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