The TAIEX climbed to a 17-month high yesterday, with sentiment boosted by good liquidity and legislative approval of the cross-strait civil relations law late last Thursday, dealers said. Wall Street's rally on Thursday also propped up the broader market yesterday, they added.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
"Leading companies have all showed solid sales growth in the latest reports, brightening the outlook for their profit figures in the third quarter," said Simon Chao (趙永宏), who helps manage US$305 million in stock investments at President Investment Trust Corp (統一投信).
Cathay Financial Holding Co (
The TAIEX jumped 102.59, or 1.8 percent, to 5,972.47, extending its 0.8 percent gain Thursday. The market closed at its highest since April 30 last year.
About two stocks rose for every one that fell. The futures contract for October delivery advanced 1.9 percent to 6,004.
About 6 billion shares changed hands, 41 percent above the average daily trading in the past three months. Shares worth NT$125.6 billion traded, 28 percent above the three-month daily average.
TSMC climbed NT$1, or 1.5 percent, to NT$70. The world's largest supplier of made-to-order chips, said sales last month rose 48 percent to NT$18.9 billion (US$562 million), a record. United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) rose NT$0.20, or 0.7 percent, to NT$30.50. Its sales last month rose 25 percent from a year ago to NT$7.5 billion.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the country's biggest electronics maker by revenue, gained NT$1, or 0.7 percent, to NT$154. Last month's sales jumped 62 percent to NT$36.6 billion from a year ago, the company said.
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (
Technology issues accounted for only 36 percent of the day's trading volume, which indicated "some hesitancy" among investors as the market edged toward 6,000, said Rex Lin, ING Financial Markets' vice president of equities.
"The big question is whether 6,000 is the ceiling or the support, and the jury's still out on that one," he said.
Cathay Financial rose NT$3.20, or 6.6 percent, to NT$52. Chinatrust Financial Holding (中信金控) rose 2.5 percent to NT$32.30. The sector was also boosted by the prospect of a merger between SinoPac Holdings Co (建華金控) and another major financial institution, traders said. SinoPac climbed 5 percent to NT$19.
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],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
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