Shares gain ground
Share prices on the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed 2.01 percent higher yesterday after European stock markets began to recover from a slump that was triggered by worries about debt problems in some countries in the region.
An easing in selling pressure prior to the Lunar New Year holiday also helped give a boost to the local bourse, analysts said.
The TAIEX rose 145.16 points to finish at 7,361.04.
The market opened at 7,225.71 and fluctuated between a high of 7,381.82 and a low of 7,197.13. A total of 3.73 billion shares changed hands on turnover of NT$98.89 billion (US$3.08 billion).
Gainers outnumbered losers 2,613 to 672, with 175 stocks remaining unchanged.
Asustek shareholders back plan
Shareholders of Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) yesterday approved the management’s plan to reduce its issued shares and its stake in its wholly owned contract manufacturing unit Pegatron Technology Corp (和碩聯合), as Asustek seeks to avoid possible conflicts of interests.
Asustek has hoped to separate its brandname and contract-manufacturing units to strengthen corporate strengths.
Asustek also plans to list Pegatron on June 24, the company said.
China Steel profits up 218%
China Steel Corp (中鋼) posted a pretax profit of NT$4.18 billion last month, up 218.74 percent from the same period of last year, the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Revenue rose 80.21 percent to NT$18.54 billion last month from a year earlier, the company said.
Chunghwa Telecom eyes profit
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s largest phone operator, forecast first-quarter profit will rise 4.6 percent to NT$11.3 billion on revenue of NT$45.5 billion, the Taipei-based company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Net income will be 7.1 percent higher than the NT$10.54 billion posted in the fourth quarter, mainly because of a reduction in income tax, it said.
TSMC to pay NT$3 dividend
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest maker of chips designed by other companies, said its board plans to give shareholders NT$3 cash dividend a share on last year’s profits, the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
The Hsinchu-based chipmaker also proposed spending NT$13.4 billion in employee bonuses and profit sharing, the statements said. The company will seek shareholders’ approval on the dividend and employee bonus plans on June 15, it said.
Li not interested in Formosa TV
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠) doesn’t plan to purchase shares of Formosa Television, Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd (長江實業) spokeswoman Winnie Cheong said yesterday.
Senior executives of the TV station are in contact with potential investors, including Cheung Kong chairman Li, Chinese-language Next Magazine reported, without citing anyone.
“The report regarding Li is incorrect,” Cheong said in a telephone interview.
Formosa Plastics Group founder Wang Yung-ching’s (王永慶) son Winston Wong (王文洋) may buy a NT$1 billion stake in the TV station, the magazine said.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising by NT$0.095 to close at NT$32.100. A total of US$613 million changed hands during the day’s trading.
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],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
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