China Eastern Airlines Corp, China CYTS Tours Holding Co and other companies that may be hurt by global advisories against trips to China led declining shares yesterday as the nation's markets reopened after a 10-day SARS-induced closure.
Investors remain concerned about the spread of the disease in the world's worst-infected nation after Premier Wen Jiabao (
SARS cases in China surged 40 percent since shares last traded.
"Investors are worried that SARS situation may hurt companies' earnings if it drags on," said Song Huaisong an analyst at Industrial Securities Co.
China extended the May Day holiday market closure by four additional trading days to prevent some of the nation's 69 million stock investors from cramming trading halls where stocks are normally bought and sold. The closure was part of efforts by China to limit public gatherings.
At the midday break, the shares traded on the benchmark Shanghai A-share index were down a third from April 30 to 657 million. China's markets, capitalized at about US$500 billion, are Asia's largest after Japan's.
The benchmark Shanghai A-share index, which tracks yuan-denominated shares, closed morning trading up 0.2 percent at 1,595, buoyed largely by Shanghai Automotive Co. on its report of higher sales. The Shenzhen A-share index was down 0.2 percent at 440.
Foreign-currency-denominated B-share indexes also declined.
The Shanghai B-share index dropped 1.7 percent while its counterpart in Shenzhen slid 0.07 percent.
Credit Suisse First Boston predicts China's economic growth rate may halve this quarter as the SARS epidemic curbs consumer spending in areas with major outbreaks. CSFB predicts growth will decelerate to 5 percent, its slowest pace since the aftermath of the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square.
In the first quarter, China's growth rate reached a seven-year high of 9.9 percent.
"People are not taking any chances and aren't in the mood to trade as they are gripped by the fear of SARS as the media talks about nothing but SARS these days," said Chen Zhe, an analyst at Citic Securities Co in Shanghai.
"We have about 50 percent less people in the trading halls than before the SARS outbreak," Chen said.
The value of shares traded in the morning session fell to 5.3 billion yuan (US$639 million) from 8.4 billion on April 30.
Tourism-related companies have been hardest hit as the World Health Organization, the US and other countries continue advisories against travel to China.
China Eastern Airlines Corp, the nation's No. 3 carrier, fell 3.1 percent to 4.45 yuan.The airline said it may post a second-quarter loss because SARS has slashed business.
Hainan Airlines Co postponed its shareholders' meeting because of the spread of SARS. The carrier's Class B shares fell 2.3 percent to US$0.64.
CYTS Tours, the country's No. 2 tour operator, fell 3.6 percent at 8 yuan. Shanghai Auto shares rose 7.2 percent to 12.8 yuan, after reporting a third rise in sales last month 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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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