Shares fell yesterday, dragged down by Wall Street's overnight tumble on concern about higher oil prices. Electronics stocks were among decliners.
The TAIEX fell 33.17 points, or 0.5 percent, to 6,340.69, on turnover of NT$69.54 billion (US$2.22 billion).
"The impact of the [declines of the] US market on Taiwan's shares is strong," said Invesco Taiwan (
The electronics sector retreated 0.7 percent, with Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) down 1.4 percent at NT$14.05, United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) off 1.4 percent at NT$23.90 and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) losing 1.1 percent at NT$56.60.
Tourism stocks gained as investors expect positive developements on Beijing's recent proposal to lift its ban and allow Chinese tourists to the island, dealers said.
Wu expects next week's trading to be within the 6,250-6,400 range, with little chance of breaking above 6,400 in the near term.
"The far from significant losses today mean that investors remain hopeful of a still positive trend, at least in the near term," said Oliver Fang, a Yuanta Core Pacific Securities (元大京華證券) assistant vice president, who serves mainly foreign institutions.
For one, investors do not expect a decisive change of heart among foreign investors, not until they have reaped their futures positions on Wednesday, he said.
It remains possible for the market to regain momentum early next week, so long as Wall Street is spared a prolonged downtrend and oil prices remain below US$60 a barrel, he added.
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