Stocks fell for the second day, paced by exporters such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on concern the nation's economy probably grew at its slowest pace in a year and may slow further as SARS cools consumption in Asia.
The TAIEX fell 47.47, or 1.1 percent, to 4,283.77. About three stocks declined for every one that gained. For the week, the index gained 0.9 percent. The Taiwan Futures Index dropped 1.5 percent to 4,260.
TSMC fell NT$0.70, or 1.4 percent, to NT$48.80. Asustek Computer Inc (
First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) fell NT$0.20, or 1 percent, to NT$20.10.
First Financial plans to seek approval from government regulators next week for an overseas sale of as much as 1 billion new shares, said president Ray Dawn (董瑞彬).
First Financial's shareholders yesterday approved the sale, which represents more than a quarter of its total outstanding shares. It plans to use the proceeds to boost capital in First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) by NT$17.5 billion ($505 million) after the unit wrote off more than NT$70 billion of bad loans last year.
The lender is raising capital through a sale of global depositary receipts because "we have no other choice," chairman Jerome Chen (
Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子) fell NT$0.35, or 3.2 percent, to NT$10.55.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) will buy 49 percent of the NT$4.1 billion (US$118.3 million) in new shares of Quanta Display to enter the notebook personal computer business, a local newspaper reported, without giving its source of information.
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