TAIEX drops on profit taking
The TAIEX closed down 0.71 percent yesterday as investors pocketed profits after the index rose above the key 8,000 point mark in the previous session, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 57.75 points to 7,976.74, after moving between 7,975.38 and 8,054.29 on turnover of NT$135.67 billion (US$4.28 billion).
The market opened up 0.25 percent on Wall Street’s gains overnight, but profit taking followed immediately, dealers said.
A total of 2,442 stocks closed down and 1,260 up, while 239 remained unchanged.
FSC plans to limit brokerages
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday introduced a proposal to limit securities brokerages from owning stocks and other marketable securities of a single firm that exceed 5 percent of its own capital.
The proposal, which still needs approval from the legislature, also seeks to limit total securities investment to 10 percent of a brokerage’s net worth, the commission said in a statement.
Currently, there is no rule on such investment by securities houses and the planned revision is intended to help them diversify investment risk, commission said. Four brokerages will have to adjust their portfolio if the proposal is written into law, the commission said, declining to elaborate.
Acer reaffirms growth estimates
PC maker Acer Inc (宏碁) said yesterday it reaffirmed guidance that its brand sales could see 10 percent to 15 percent growth in the third quarter from the previous three months. The statement came after the company said its revenues for last month dipped 37.7 percent from a year ago to NT$26.3 billion.
The decrease in sales was expected as the company had informed key channel partners and distributors to adjust inventory and new orders accordingly, as Acer plans to roll out more competitive computer products using Intel Corp’s new CPU and chipset designs this month and next month, the statement said. The goal of 10 percent to 15 percent brand revenues rise for the July-to-December period over the first six months also remains intact, the statement read.
Energy consumption rises
Energy use rose for the 10th consecutive month on increased electricity demand from factories, as industrial output advanced to a record level.
Consumption of coal, petroleum, gas, thermal energy and electricity climbed 4.4 percent in June from a year earlier to the equivalent of 10.3 million kiloliters of oil, or about 2.16 million barrels a day, an e-mailed report from the Bureau of Energy said yesterday.
Use of petroleum products climbed 1.3 percent to the equivalent of 4.39 million kiloliters of oil in June. Imports of coal gained 17 percent to 6.16 million tonnes in June and purchases of liquefied natural gas climbed 11 percent to 1.27 billion cubic meters, or about 873,000 tonnes, the energy bureau said.
Yulon venture approved
The National Development and Reform Commission approved Dongfeng Automobile Corp (東風汽車) and Taiwan’s Yulon Motor Co’s (裕隆汽車) plan for a 50-50 joint venture in Hangzhou, China, Xinhua news agency said yesterday, citing unidentified people at the Chinese company.
Yulon will cooperate with Dongfeng to make cars and engines. They are each investing 775 million yuan (US$114 million) in the venture.
NT dollar slightly down
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, down NT$0.073 to close at NT$31.855. Turnover was US$525 million during the trading session.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by