Stocks fell for the fourth day yesterday, led by Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) and Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), on concern government efforts to change the financial industry may be delayed after a political dispute.
The TAIEX shed 32.09, or 0.6 percent, to 5,611.41. The index lost 0.7 percent for the month, paring its gain this quarter to 15 percent. About 10 stocks gained for every nine that declined. The futures contract for October delivery fell 0.3 percent to 5,645.
About 2.4 billion shares changed hands, or 46 percent below the average in the past three months. Shares worth NT$50.5 billion were traded, the lowest in four months.
A dispute with the opposition over President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) plan to promulgate a new constitution by 2006 may set back laws to quadruple the size of a fund created to help banks dispose of about NT$1.2 trillion (US$35 billion) of bad loans, some investors said.
"Renewed political bickering over the new constitution in 2006 will delay the parliamentary review of reform bills that are much needed by financial companies," said Celine Chiang, a fund manager at Polaris International Securities Investment Trust Co (寶來投信).
Cathay Financial, the nation's largest financial company by market value, fell NT$1.20, or 2.7 percent, to NT$44. Mega Financial fell 30 cents, or 1.7 percent, to NT$17.40.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) closed steady at NT$66.50 as firmer ADRs and positive global semiconductor August sales reported by the Semiconductor Industry Association offset concerns over the government's plan to dispose of about 600 million shares in TSMC through an ADR issue next year.
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