Stocks fall 0.4%
Taiwan's stocks fell 37.52, or 0.4 percent, to close at 8,905.41 yesterday as Mediatek Inc (聯發科) paced declines on concerns that demand for electronics products will drop after consumer spending slowed in the US.
"Lingering worries about the US economy capped investor confidence," said Ashley Kang, who helps manage US$1.7 billion at IBT Securities Co (台灣工銀投信) in Taipei. "Exporter-dependent stocks are suffering."
Chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) dropped after Applied Materials Inc, (台灣應用材料) the largest maker of semiconductor-production machines, said profit declined and predicted that a computer-memory chip slump would reduce orders.
Nearly US$3.1 billion in shares changed hands, the lowest since May 30.
Mediatek, the world's largest supplier of chips for DVD players, fell NT$19, or 3.6 percent, to NT$508.
Taiwan Semiconductor, the world's biggest supplier of made-to-order chips, dropped NT$0.60, or 1 percent, to NT$60.90.
Applied Materials said fiscal fourth-quarter profit fell 6.1 percent and chief executive officer Mike Splinter said a computer-memory chip slump would reduce orders until the first half of next year.
However, Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation's largest food company, jumped NT$3.10, or 7 percent, to NT$47.60, taking its two-day gain to 14 percent, the biggest since Aug. 23.
Buyback of NT$2bn in two days
Chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that it had spent NT$1.82 billion (US$56.35 million) on buying back 29.48 million shares, or 0.11 percent of its total outstanding shares, in two days.
The world's biggest contract chipmaker said on Tuesday that it planned to buy back a maximum 800 million common shares, or 3.03 percent of its total 26.42 billion outstanding shares, from the open market for no more than US$1.8 billion in the two-month period ending Jan. 13.
Ukraine close to WTO entry
Ukraine cleared its last significant hurdle to entering the WTO on Wednesday by signing a long-sought trade agreement with Kyrgyzstan, according to Ukrainian and Kyrgyz officials.
Ukraine has made joining the WTO a priority as it needs foreign investment to boost its economy.
Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that by signing the agreement, Ukraine had overcome the last major hurdle to acquiring WTO membership.
Ukraine now must complete some formalities to join the WTO.
China sticks by greenback
People's Bank of China Assistant Governor Yi Gang (易鋼) said on Wednesday that China's policy toward its currency holdings that are mostly weighted in US dollars was "very firm," and that any future changes should be driven by economic fundamentals.
Yi's remarks followed comments last week by the vice chairman of an advisory body suggesting that China dump dollar holdings in favor of euros, which sent the greenback tumbling.
At a conference on Wednesday sponsored by the Cato Institute, Yi said that the US dollar was the largest currency holding in China's reserves because most trade, foreign direct investment and clearance and settlements are in dollars.
Yi alluded to recent speculation that China could shift its currency reserves away from dollars, saying it was just "opinion that does not change our policy."
NT dollar drops slightly
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday weakened by NT$0.01 to close at NT$32.298 against the greenback on turnover of US$671 million.
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