TAIEX edges up 0.1 percent
Share prices closed slightly higher yesterday, with the TAIEX edging up 8.32 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 7,770.59.
The bourse opened at 7,762.4 and fluctuated within a narrow trading range of 7,737.65 to 7,770.59.
Market turnover totaled NT$86.23 billion (US$2.71 billion), down from the previous day’s NT$103.89 billion. Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net buyers of NT$9.5 billion in shares.
Losers outnumbered gainers 1,477 to 1,285, with 370 unchanged.
Import tax exemption extended
The Ministry of Finance has extended an exemption on sales tax for imported wheat, barley, corn and soybean, it said on its Web site yesterday.
The exemption, which as due to expire yesterday, will continue until June 9, the ministry said.
HP sues Taiwan’s Microjet
Hewlett-Packard (HP) on Monday said it was suing a Taiwan-based firm for peddling inkjet cartridges made from parts swiped from the US technology giant’s facilities in Asia.
HP has called on the US International Trade Commission to investigate whether its patents were infringed by ink cartridge manufacturer Microjet Technology (研能科技) and has filed a lawsuit in a US District Court in California, the company said in an e-mail.
The lawsuit “includes allegations related to the distribution and sale of products, which HP believes to have been stolen from HP facilities in Asia,” the company said.
“HP asserts that the sale of these products constitutes conversion of HP property and unfair competition,” it said.
A spokesman for Microjet Technology, based in Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), declined to comment yesterday.
“We don’t know anything about the lawsuit. So far we’ve not received any legal documents and will not respond to the allegations from HP,” he said.
UMC sales rise threefold
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s second-largest contract chip maker, said yesterday its revenue nearly tripled to NT$8.63 billion last month from NT$3.14 billion a year earlier.
In the first two months of the year, revenue totaled NT$17.24 billion, UMC said in a statement. The company posted revenue of NT$6.3 billion in the same period last year.
Exports boost energy use
Energy use rose for a fifth month in January after factories boosted production of semiconductors and display panels to meet export orders, the Bureau of Energy said in an e-mailed report yesterday.
Consumption of coal, petroleum, gas, thermal energy and electricity advanced 22 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 9.65 million kiloliters of oil, or about 1.96 million barrels a day, the bureau said.
Power consumption rose 27 percent to 17.6 billion kilowatt-hours in January, with demand from industrial companies gaining 52 percent from a year earlier.
Demand for natural gas increased 11 percent to 148.2 million cubic meters, while coal consumption climbed 23 percent to 5.15 million tonnes, it said.
Use of petroleum products rose 21 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 4.5 million kiloliters of oil in January, the bureau said.
New Taiwan dollar advances
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.04 to close at NT$31.850. Turnover was US$575 million.
The local currency opened at NT$31.980 and fluctuated between NT$31.824 and NT$31.980.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
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