Share prices closed 0.23 percent lower yesterday as hopes for an improvement in cross-strait trade and other links were dashed after a preliminary meeting of a government economic conference failed to ease restrictions, dealers said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) announced earlier that no consensus was reached on either the easing of rules on China-bound investment or on expanding cross-strait transport links.
"People had hoped the economic forum would reach a consensus on liberalizing China policy, but that hope is slipping away,'' said Sam Hsieh, a fund manager at Grand Cathay Securities Investment Trust Co (
The TAIEX fell 14.60 points at 6,376.39, on turnover of NT$67.84 billion (US$2.07 billion).
Decliners led risers 614 to 335, with 148 stocks unchanged.
The market languished in a tight range "as investors could not bring themselves to either sell down their holdings or buy shares aggressively," Jih Sun Securities Investment (
AU Optronics Corp's (
The company reported on Tuesday that its second-quarter net profit tumbled nearly two-thirds to NT$182 million from the year-earlier period on steep declines in panel prices.
But AU Optronic's shares may be supported by a report which said the company won its first order from Samsung Electronics Co to supply liquid-crystal displays (LCD) for televisions, dealers said. AU Optronics was up 1.5 percent at NT$48.50.
Apart from TFT-LCD panels, makers of DRAM chips remain the most promising in the near-term as both sectors appear likely to enjoy a clearer recovery in product prices for the rest of the year, Lien said.
Among DRAM makers, Nanya Technology Corp (
However, Almost all stocks with China ties fell after news that the government-sponsored economic conference might fail to agree on loosening investment restrictions on the mainland.
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (
Airlines such as EVA Airways Corp (
BenQ Corp (明基), slumped 3.7 percent to NT$18.10 on reports that the company may post a loss of NT$7 billion in the second quarter.
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],”
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
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