Stocks gained, lifting the benchmark index to its highest in 1 1/2 years. Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) led gains after the legislature yesterday toughened penalties for crimes related to the banking and securities industry.
"The government has made financial industry reform its top priority in the past three years and now it's time to see some results," said Celine Chiang (江宜津), a fund manager at Polaris International Securities Investment Trust Co (寶來投信). "Financial companies will benefit."
The TAIEX gained 64.75, or 1 percent, to 6274.97, its highest since April 26, 2002. TAIEX futures for January delivery gained 1.04 percent to 6325.
About 5 billion shares changed hands, 26 percent above the average daily trade in the past three months. Shares worth NT$112.2 billion traded, 30 percent above the three-month daily average.
The legislature revised financial laws to impose a minimum seven-year prison term for crimes such as falsifying financial information or using fake stocks to defraud money from investors.
Cathay Financial, the owner of Taiwan's largest insurer, rose NT$1, or 1.8 percent, to NT$56. Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), Taiwan's largest property insurer, rose NT$0.70, or 2.2 percent, to NT$32.90. Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), Taiwan's third-largest financial company by market value, rose NT$0.30, or 1.4 percent, to NT$22.
China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan's largest steelmaker, fell, shed NT$0.10, or 0.3 percent, to NT$29.20. China, the world's largest steel consumer, said it will impose anti-dumping duties of as much as 55 percent from tomorrow on cold-rolled steel imports.
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],”
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
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