Tech shares boost TAIEX
Share prices closed up 1.28 percent yesterday as the high-tech sector reversed earlier losses after a lackluster overnight Wall Street performance, dealers said.
The weighted index closed up 110.66 points at 8,738.46, off a low of 8,520.80 and a high of 8,745.90, on turnover of NT$102.03 billion (US$3.35 billion).
Gainers outnumbered losers 1,660 to 662, with 393 stocks unchanged.
On the foreign exchange market, the NT dollar dropped NT$0.042 to close at NT$30.292 against the US dollar.
Foreign reserves hit new high
The nation’s foreign exchange reserves hit a new record high of US$290.07 billion at the end of last month, the central bank said yesterday.
The figure was up from US$289.38 billion in April on interest income from the foreign exchange reserves, the bank said.
Standard Chartered goes green
Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (渣打國際商銀) kick-started a one-hour lights-out event at its 86 branches nationwide at 7pm yesterday to show its support for World Environment Day.
“During the one-hour lights-out, 3,000 watts of electricity is saved or 1,700 kilogram of carbon emission is cut,” the bank said in a statement.
The bank’s promotion won support from 14 universities, which turned off their lighting at noon yesterday for an hour.
Yesterday was also a paperless day for the bank, which set itself the energy-saving goal of reducing its paper use by 20 percent, its electricity consumption by 10 percent and transportation resources by 10 percent, the statement said.
In related news, Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) said yesterday that it has cut carbon emissions by 850,000kg in the first quarter after implementing energy-saying measures in its offices.
SEF pushes ETF’s dual listing
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) will accelerate facilitation of the exchanged trade fund’s (ETF) dual listing between Taiwan and Hong Kong “within one month” should any applications be made, commission Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正) said yesterday.
He told reporters the FSC would try to speed up deregulation of financial exchanges between Taiwan and China, most of which requires official negotiations between the two governments.
Before the resumption of cross-strait talks next week, however, the commission could address those cross-strait financial deregulatory measures that can be facilitated unilaterally by Taiwan, such as the ETF’s listing, he said.
Shin Kong unit books loss
Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) said its life insurance unit will book a US$24.2 million loss on collateralized debt obligations in the second quarter after ratings firms issued downgrades on its holding of Lenox ABS CDO.
Shin Kong Life Insurance Co’s (新光人壽) total investment in the Lenox CDO was US$30 million, and its accumulated loss will be US$27 million after booking a new charge of US$24.2 million, the parent company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock exchange yesterday.
More tax returns filed online
The number of income tax returns filed online this year reached 2.68 million, accounting for 54.68 percent of the total returns filed, Ministry of Finance statistics released on Wednesday showed.
The statistics show that the number of tax returns filed online was 9.47 percent more than the 2.45 million filed online for the previous tax year.
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
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
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],”