The TAIEX fell for the second day in three yesterday. BenQ Corp (明基電通) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) paced declines by some exporters after crude oil prices surged, raising concern that higher fuel costs will dent global economic growth.
First Financial Holding Co (
The TAIEX lost 5.72, or 0.1 percent, to 5,393.73. Almost five shares fell for every six that rose. Futures for this month shed 0.3 percent to 5,364.
BenQ, the nation's largest mobile-phone maker, slumped 4.4 percent to NT$34.40. Asustek Computer, the world's largest maker of boards that connect chips in personal computers, lost 2.1 percent to NT$70.
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), Asia's largest container shipping company by fleet size, shed 1.1 percent to close at NT$26.80.
First Financial, the country's fifth-largest financial-services provider, advanced 2.4 percent to close at NT$21.50. It was upgraded to "buy/medium risk" from "hold" at Citigroup Inc because of a recovery in profits and because of expectations the lender might be acquired. Bradford Ti, an analyst at the brokerage, said in a research report today that it estimates First Financial's share price will rise to NT$29 in the next 12 months, down from NT$32 in its previous projection.
Formosa Chemicals & Fibre gained 2 percent to close at NT$50.50.
Jim Hung, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston, raised his recommendation for the company to "outperform" from "neutral."
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
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy