UMC slips to nine-year low
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world's second-largest maker of chips for other companies, slid to a nine-year low yesterday after UBS AG downgraded the shares to "neutral," citing a seasonal slowdown for the company.
UMC shares fell 4.9 percent to NT$21.30 at the close of trade, their lowest since Oct. 6, 1998.
"We expect slowing momentum, given the high base in Q3 ... and seasonal slowdown," Taipei-based analysts William Dong, Robert Lea and Samson Hung wrote in a report dated Thursday.
UMC's plan to issue stock options to employees from next year also has the potential to dilute earnings, the analysts wrote.
The potential dilution of the 500 million stock options is about 3.8 percent in the next six years, UMC said in an e-mail.
UBS cut its rating on UMC from "buy" and lowered its 12-month price target to NT$24 from NT$28.60.
Next step for Nicaraguan FTA
Taiwan and Nicaragua exchanged instruments of rectification on Thursday for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that was signed last year to pave the way for its implementation this Jan. 1.
Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) and visiting Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos Lopez exchanged the documents in a ceremony at the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
After the FTA takes effect next year, Nicaragua will allow tariff-free entry of 3,374 Taiwanese products, which is about 51.1 percent of Taiwanese exports to Nicaragua, while Taiwan will lift tariffs on the entry of 5,797 Nicaraguan products, or about 65.6 percent of Nicaraguan exports, including beef and coffee.
China's reserves keep growing
China's foreign exchange reserves, already the world's largest, surpassed US$1.43 trillion at the end of last month, the central bank said yesterday.
The figure was up 45.1 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Special zone status for Hainan
China has approved the establishment of a special export zone for the island province of Hainan in a bid to boost trade, especially with Southeast Asia, state media said yesterday.
The Yangpu Bonded Port Area will enjoy tax breaks and other preferential policies similar to zones in Shanghai, Tianjin and Dalian, the Shanghai Securities News said.
The Yangpu Port, approved by the State Council, will be built in three phases and eventually cover an area of 9.2km2, with an annual traffic of 70 million tonnes, the report said.
Cathay Life to add Beijing outlet
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the nation's largest life insurer, said yesterday its Chinese venture based in Shanghai has been approved to open a new branch in Beijing.
Cathay Life said the joint venture with China Eastern Air Holding Co (中國東方航空) obtained approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission yesterday for the establishment of the Beijing branch, a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
Meanwhile, Cathay Life and affiliated Cathay Century Insurance Co (國泰世紀產險) announced yesterday that they had also received China's go-ahead to set up a property insurance company there.
The new property insurance company, which will be launched with 200 million yuan (US$26.6 million) from Cathay Life and Cathay Century each, will be the first Taiwanese property insurer operating in China.
Cathay Life broke into China's insurance market in 2005.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
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