Shares close higher
Shares closed 1.76 percent up yesterday after Wall Street advanced deeper into record territory overnight, with sentiment also bolstered by heightened hopes for a recovery in the technology industry amid positive corporate guidance, dealers said.
Financial stocks also moved higher, benefiting from a report that the Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have tentatively agreed to raise the ceiling on insurers' overseas investments to 45 percent of their investment funds from 35 percent.
The TAIEX closed up 139.40 points at 8,066.06, on turnover of NT$113.23 billion (US$3.40 billion).
For the week to May 4, the weighted index closed up 116.64 points or 1.47 percent after a marginal 0.08 percent increase a week earlier.
Average daily turnover stood at NT$101.24 billion, compared with NT$96.48 billion the previous week.
Foreign exchange reserves fall
The nation's foreign exchange reserves totalled US$266.54 billion at the end of last month, down US$945 million from the US$267.49 billion recorded in the preceding month, the central bank said yesterday.
The decline was mainly due to an increase in foreign assets held by domestic investors, it said.
New directors for Cathay
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the nation's biggest financial group by assets, announced yesterday that its board has decided to appoint three independent directors and install an audit committee to enhance corporate governance and transparency.
The three directors-to-be are Richard Hong (洪敏弘), current chairman of Panasonic Taiwan Co (台灣松下電器) and former chairman of SinoPac Holdings (永豐金控), Huang Chin-yuan (黃清苑), board director of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), and Andrew Kuo (郭明鑑), former senior country officer of JP Morgan Taiwan and Hong Kong, Cathay Financial said in a statement.
The company said it also planned to add a panel specialized in corporate governance and strategy planning following its annual general meeting on June 15.
The amended Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) required the nation's financial holding firms and listed companies with capitalization exceeding NT$50 billion (US$1.5 billion) to install independent directors and optional audit committees, starting this year, in an attempt to enhance the nation's level of corporate governance.
Capxon to raise US$22 million
Capxon International Electronic Co (豐賓電子), which makes electrical components used in cars and home appliances, said it will raise a net HK174.5 million (US$22 million) in its Hong Kong initial public offering.
Capxon priced its 211.2 million shares at HK$0.93 each, it said in a statement issued through Hong Kong's stock exchange yesterday. The shares were priced near the bottom of its earlier announced range of HK$0.88 to HK$1.48.
The percentage of shares sold to the public, rather than placed with institutional buyers, rose to 30 percent from 10 percent because of demand, the statement said. Mega Capital (Asia) Co (兆豐資本), which arranged the sale, has the right to sell an additional 15 percent stake in Capxon, it said.
Shares of the Hong Kong-based, Taiwan-backed company are scheduled to begin trading in Hong Kong on Monday, the statement said.
NT dollar continues gains
The New Taiwan dollar continued gaining ground against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.001 to close at NT$33.280 on the Taipei Forex Inc.
Turnover was US$923 million.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the