Despite fears that a possible US recession could send the TAIEX tumbling, analysts said yesterday that the nation's banking sector is likely to outperform other TAIEX-listed shares.
"Affected by the US slowdown, the TAIEX will be relatively volatile in the first quarter," said Ken Chen (陳安), head of Taiwan equities at UBS Securities Pte Ltd (瑞銀證券). "But shares in banking, hotels, tourism and construction will do just fine the year as a whole."
Chen said tech shares, including strong performers such as notebook PCs and panel industries, may only see a rebound after May when the global stock markets stabilize in the second half of the year as the uncertainty surrounding the US' mortgage crisis and recession subsides.
Taiwan Ratings Corp (
The averaged return on average assets (ROAA) for FHCs in Taiwan rose to 0.7 percent last year from 0.2 percent a year earlier "due mostly to banking subsidiaries' increasing fee incomes on wealth management business and a more active domestic capital market," the report by analysts Andy Chang (張書評) and Susan Chu (朱素徵) said.
Last year's level was similar to that seen between 2003 and 2005 -- before consumer credit delinquencies soared and when local financial markets last experienced a positive cycle, the report said.
China Development Financial Holding Co (
"Notable underachievers included Shin Kong FHC and China Development FHC. Both.... suffered one-off investment losses due to their equity holdings and debentures of Cosmos Bank (
"Only those with a strong market position, diversified revenue stream and strengthened enterprise risk management will be in an opportune position to improve their profitability," the report said.
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