TAIEX closes higher
Share prices closed higher yesterday, with the TAIEX moving up 31.9 points, or 0.41 percent, to close at 7,629.52.
The local bourse opened at 7,628.78 and fluctuated between a high of 7,670.25 and a low of 7,604.86. Market turnover totaled NT$84.76 billion (US$2.65 billion).
Of the eight major stock categories, two lost ground. Food stocks lost 0.37 percent, and machinery and electronics issues dipped 0.09 percent.
Paper and pulp shares rose 1.61 percent, the most of any category. Banking and financial issues were up 1.58 percent, construction issues gained 1.5 percent, and plastic and chemical stocks rose 1.25 percent.
Cement shares advanced 1.12 percent and textile shares were up 0.7 percent.
Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors bought a net NT$3.3 billion in shares.
Vanguard higher on order talk
Shares of Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) rose the most in more than seven months in Taipei trading on speculation that its majority shareholder, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), may be farming out more orders, boosting Vanguard’s profit.
Vanguard rose 6.2 percent to close at NT$15.35, outpacing the TAIEX, which edged up 0.41 percent.
“There’s market talk that TSMC has too many orders, so they are transferring some orders to Vanguard as early as this month,” said Randy Chang, a trader at KGI Securities Co (凱基證券), via a telephone interview.
Both Vanguard and TSMC spokesmen weren’t immediately available for comments.
Officials to review taxes
Taxation Agency deputy director Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said yesterday that the agency would call a meeting of local government heads on March 16 to discuss proposed adjustments on land value and housing taxes.
To curb housing price hikes in Taipei City, the Ministry of Finance said earlier last month that it would raise property taxes and land value taxes for high-end residences. The proposed tax hikes are estimated to bring in an additional NT$16 billion to the national coffers. The meeting will be presided over by Deputy Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和).
AUO to invest in China
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s largest maker of liquid-crystal-displays (LCD), plans to invest NT$1.2 billion (US$37.5 million) in a Chinese subsidiary to make and sell LCD panels in China, the Hsinchu, Taiwan-based company said in an exchange filing yesterday.
Meanwhile, the board of High-Tek Harness Enterprise Co (樺晟電子) approved plans to sell as many as 20 million shares in a private placement to fund expansion and bring in strategic investors, with the sale tentatively priced at NT$18.07 per share, it said in an exchange filing.
NT dollar rises to month-high
The New Taiwan dollar strengthened to its highest level in a month as Greece’s efforts to reduce its budget deficit bolstered demand for emerging-market assets.
The currency gained for a fourth day as the TAIEX surged to its highest level in more than a month.
“The New Taiwan dollar is stronger because the euro is appreciating,” said Juan Hao-yun, a foreign-exchange trader at Kingstown Bank (京城銀行) in Taipei.
The NT dollar rose to NT$31.96 — its highest level since Feb. 6 — before retreating to close up 0.1 percent at NT$32.004 against its US counterpart, Taipei Forex Inc said. The euro rose as much as 0.3 percent to US$1.3655.
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],”
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
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