Shares close flat
Shares closed flat yesterday as the early-session rise driven by a rebound in the NT dollar gave way to profit-taking, ending a three-day run-up, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed down 5.38 points or 0.07 percent at 8,216.41, on turnover of NT$103.78 billion (US$3.14 billion).
The NT dollar rose to a two-week high on speculation the nation's central bank bought the currency to stem losses after it fell to the lowest in 17 months. The currency gained NT$0.1 to close at NT$33.298, on turnover of US$1.47 billion at the Taipei Forex Inc.
Telecoms discuss market
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation's second-biggest mobile operator, said its chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) met Motorola Inc CEO Edward Zander yesterday and shared their views extensively on the current status of Taiwan's telecom market, wireless communications services, future prospects and consumer handset trends, a press release said.
Motorola is a key strategic partner to Far EasTone's expansion into wireless communications services, and Zander's visit has further strengthened cooperation between the two, it said.
FSC seeks financial adviser
The financial regulator will select a financial advisory agency on June 4 to help proceed with the public auction of troubled China United Trust and Investment Corp (中聯信託), Johnson Chen (陳戰勝), president of Central Deposit Insurance Corp (中央存保), told reporters yesterday.
The Financial Supervisory Commission is also slated to open the bidding for the Enterprise Bank of Hualien (花蓮企銀) next Thursday, Taitung Business Bank (台東企銀) on June 7, and The Chinese Bank (中華銀行) on July 31.
These banks had been taken over by the government.
Meanwhile, one foreign investor is doing due diligence at troubled Bowa Bank (寶華銀行), the commission said yesterday. The commission earlier demanded Bowa seek an injection of NT$5 billion by the end of this month.
China Steel ups prices
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation's largest steelmaker, will increase prices for a sixth straight quarter because of rising demand for the metal.
The company will raise prices by an average 2.4 percent for local customers in the three months starting July, the steelmaker said in an e-mailed statement today. The gain follows a 3.24 percent increase in the second quarter.
GDP rises year-on-year
The nation's GDP rose 4.15 percent year-on-year in the first quarter on the back of stronger-than-expected exports, the government's statistics bureau said yesterday.
The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also raised its forecast for the growth of GDP this year to 4.38 percent from the February estimate of 4.30 percent.
Exports will increase 6.8 percent this year, while imports will rise 5.4 percent, the DGBAS said. Private consumption is predicted to grow 3 percent this year and consumer prices will rise 1.46 percent, it said.
Bank merger approved
The Fair Trade Commission yesterday approved a merger application from Citigroup Inc and the Bank of Overseas Chinese (華僑銀行) in accordance with Article 12 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法). The commission said the nation's financial sector is highly competitive, with a great number of banks vying for customers. Following the merger, the new entity will still be subject to market competition, it said in a press release.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the