Share prices edge higher
The TAIEX edged up 0.28 percent yesterday after profit-taking eroded bigger gains on buying in the electronics sector, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 12.01 points to 4,259.98 on turnover of NT$50.35 billion (US$1.49 billion).
The market opened 0.69 percent higher as investors resumed buying in electronic stocks, in particular semiconductor and flat-panel makers, as the market re-opened after the Lunar New Year holiday, dealers said.
“Trading volumes were thin today as many investors remained sidelined amid lingering concerns over the global economy’s weakness,” Concord Securities (康和證券) analyst Allen Lin said. “Buying in high-tech stocks failed to bring a meaningful boost to the broader market.”
Among memory chip producers, Nanya Technology (南亞科技) rose 6.94 percent to NT$6.01 and Inotera Memories (華亞科技) gained 6.86 percent to NT$10.90.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) added 3.98 percent to NT$41.80, while United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) fell 1.92 percent to NT$7.16.
The financial sector underperformed on fears that the worsening domestic economy would raise the risks of increasing bad loans, dealers said.
Cathay Financial (國泰金控) fell 4.51 percent to NT$30.70 and Fubon Financial (富邦金控) lost 2.97 percent to NT$19.60.
Car sales hit 22-year low
New car sales hit a 22-year low last month, plummeting by nearly 40 percent year-on-year to 21,541 units, because of less business days and the government’s recent implementation of a NT$30,000 (US$889) commodity tax reduction for new car buyers.
Potential car buyers had adopted a wait-and-see approach before the tax cut went into effect on Jan. 19. After the tax cut, 14,431 cars were sold in the five days before the holiday.
Steven Yang (楊湘泉), spokesman for Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes both Toyota and Lexus models, said the nation’s rising unemployment rate and volatile economic climate may affect new car sales for the whole year, which he expects to remain close to last year’s level of between 220,000 and 230,000 units.
THSRC reports record numbers
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) reported more than 1.24 million passengers during the Lunar New Year holiday, a company representative said by telephone yesterday.
This record number was for the period from Jan. 22 through Sunday. On Sunday, the number of passengers reached 100,000 in a single day, the company said.
Typically THSRC calculates its Lunar New Year holiday period from Jan. 22 through yesterday, and without yesterday’s final numbers the company is currently unable to provide comparisons to last year’s figures, it said.
The company added that 308 trains were added this holiday season to facilitate the overwhelming numbers of passengers.
The company celebrated its second year of operations earlier this year, reporting that THSRC has doubled its number of passengers from 1.55 million in 2007 to 3.06 million last year.
China axes shipping taxes
China has axed some taxes on Taiwanese shipping lines to encourage more direct services across the Taiwan Strait as relations between the two sides improve.
The exemption took effect on Dec. 15, a statement posted on China’s Ministry of Finance Web site said yesterday.
NT dollar gains against US$
The New Taiwan dollar gained NT$0.052 yesterday to close at NT$33.749 against the US dollar on turnover of US$509 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
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],”