TAIEX up 0.19 percent
Taiwanese shares closed up 0.19 percent yesterday in thin trade as bargain-hunting offset earlier falls over Wall Street’s overnight decline, dealers said.
The weighted index closed 15.79 points higher at 8,217.58, off a low of 8,148.61 and a high of 8,253.85 on turnover of NT$82.31 billion (US$2.72 billion).
Risers led decliners 1,470 to 752, with 461 stocks unchanged.
A total of 37 stocks closed limit-up and 20 were limit-down.
Michael Hsu (許派一), an analyst at Taiwan Life Asset Management (台壽保投信), expected thin volume for the rest of this month amid lingering concerns over inflation and its impact on global markets.
China Steel plant back online
China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan’s biggest maker of the metal, expects production at its No. 1 blast furnace to resume tomorrow after being shut for 12 days because of a faulty cooling box.
The company has started heating the plant, spokesman Chung Le-min (鍾樂民) said by telephone yesterday from Kaohsiung, where China Steel is based. The mill lost output of between 100,000 tonnes and 150,000 tonnes of steel slabs, he said.
China Steel, which can produce 11 million tonnes of crude steel a year, will import steel slabs after drawing on inventories during the closure, Chung said. Rising demand for steel in Taiwan enabled China Steel to announce an 18 percent price increase for the third quarter.
“There’ll be a small amount of products tomorrow,” Chung said. “It will probably take about a week for the blast furnace to return to full capacity.”
Legal problems in China
More than 42 percent of Taiwanese businesses have experienced problems communicating with Chinese authorities when encountering investment disputes in China, the results of a survey released yesterday by Taiwan’s General Chamber of Commerce (全國商業總會) showed.
The survey showed that 90.35 percent of businesses believe Chinese authorities have a weak perception of the rule of law, while 22.51 percent hoped mediation or lawsuits would take place in Taiwan in case such disputes arose.
The survey was conducted between Feb. 1 and March 21 with 413 Taiwanese listed and over-the-counter companies with operations in China.
The survey showed that 32.58 percent of Taiwanese businesses entering a joint venture with Chinese businesses and 22.99 percent of independently owned Taiwanese businesses have encountered or may encounter disputes in China.
Fairs, exhibitions may benefit
The situation across the Taiwan Strait could further improve in the second half of this year, creating many new business opportunities for Taiwanese industries, including trade fairs and conventions, Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) said yesterday.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the establishment of the Republic of China exhibition and convention association at the Taipei International Convention Center, Yiin said he expected cross-strait ties to make significant steps forward over the next six months, adding that this would benefit Taiwan’s exhibition and convention industry.
Citing a report by the International Association of Conference Centers, Yiin said Taiwan’s global ranking in hosting international conferences went from No. 40 in 2006 to No. 18 last year.
NT drops against greenback
The NT dollar dropped against the US dollar on the Taipei Forex Inc yesterday, declining NT$0.036 to close at NT$30.353.
A total of US$1.323 billion changed hands during the day’s trading.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI