Stocks fell, paced by exporters such as Asustek Computer Inc (
The TAIEX fell 80.86, or 1.6 percent, to 4921.72, the biggest decline in six weeks.
The benchmark's gained 14 percent so far this quarter. About three stocks fell for every one that gained. July futures on the index fell 1.9 percent to 4925.
"Some investors have started questioning if corporate profits will make the rally sustainable," said Mike Shiao, who manages the US$12 million Taiwan Select Growth Fund at Invesco Taiwan Ltd (
Asustek, Taiwan's largest computer motherboard manufacturer, fell NT$2.50, or 2.7 percent, to NT$89.
Export orders -- indicative of actual shipments in one to three months -- probably rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier, which would be the smallest gain since March of last year, according to economists. Taiwan is due to announce last month's export orders Tuesday.
AU Optronics Corp (
AU Optronics said it plans to sell as much as US$250 million of bonds, which will be exchangeable for its shares.
Some investors are concerned that the company's earnings per share will be diluted if the bonds are converted into shares.
Cathay Real Estate Development Co (
It plans to sell as much as US$160 million of bonds convertible into shares of its affiliate Cathay Financial Holding Co (
Cathay Real Estate will use the funds to top up its capital and expand property development, it said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp.
Nan Ya Plastics Corp (
The plastics chemicals company said it will sell overseas investors as much as US$240 million of five-year bonds that are exchangeable into shares.
The money raised will be used to buy raw materials overseas.
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