Stocks dropped for a third day yesterday. AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation's largest maker of flat-panel displays used in computers and TVs, fell after it was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" by Deutsche Bank AG.
"AU was downgraded because flat-panel display prices were seen falling," said Charles Chen, who manages the equivalent of US$150 million at JF Asset Management Co in Taipei.
"I am now slightly underweight toward neutral on Taiwan stocks," Chen said.
The TAIEX fell 132.44, or 2.3 percent, to 5,735.07. It lost 4.2 percent in the past three days, paring its gain this week to 0.2 percent. About seven shares fell for every one that rose. TAIEX futures for June delivery shed 2.1 percent to 5,715.
AU Optronics slumped 5.6 percent to NT$51. Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), the nation's second-largest maker of flat-panel displays, fell 4.6 percent to NT$52.
Overseas investors sold a net NT$5.6 billion (US$168.4 million) of Taiwanese stocks yesterday, ending three days of net buying, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Some banking shares rose after the Financial Restructuring Fund (
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the country's largest credit-card issuer, rose 0.8 percent to NT$36.90.
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the nation's fifth-largest financial services company by assets, rose 0.3 percent to NT$31.30.
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