TAIEX surges on buying shift
The TAIEX closed up 108.79 points yesterday, marking its largest single-day rise since Sept. 13, with buying focused on old economy stocks amid concerns that a strong NT dollar could negatively affect export-oriented stocks, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 1.34 percent to 8,215.45, after moving between 8,178.34 and 8,252.20, on turnover of NT$120.89 billion (US$3.90 billion).
The market opened up 0.92 percent on Wall Street’s overnight gains and the buying momentum accelerated, buoyed by gains in other regional markets, including Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul, dealers said.
A total of 2,635 stocks advanced, 1,252 retreated and 355 remained unchanged.
Shanghai bank upgrade passed
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday approved an application by the Hong Kong subsidiary of Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (上海商銀) to upgrade its representative office in Shanghai to a branch.
This was the eighth Taiwanese bank to receive approval to set up a branch in China, the commission said in a statement, adding that another two have won approval to open a representative office there.
Textile groups sign MOU
The Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the European Textile and Clothing Confederation (EURATEX) for future business cooperation.
EURATEX president Peter Pfneisl said the MOU was the first cooperation agreement his group had signed with a counterpart in Asia. The Brussels, Belgium-based EURATEX represents the European textile and clothing industry.
According to the TTF, the EU is the largest textile and clothing market in the world, with annual consumption of 500 billion euros (US$692 billion) and production exceeding 200 billion euros annually.
Mercuries buys insurance firm
Mercuries & Associates Ltd (三商行) is buying 280 million shares in a life insurance venture from MassMutual International Holdings MSC Inc for US$68 million, the Taipei-based retailer said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
Mercuries will fully own MassMutual Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽保險) when the deal is completed in the first quarter, spokesman Wang Chih-hua (王志華) said.
FEDS plans expansion
Far Eastern Department Stores (FEDS, 遠東百貨) said yesterday it would invest NT$30 billion (US$975 million) to expand its business at home and in China next year.
FEDS, which operates 47 Sogo and Far Eastern outlets on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, is expected to open three new stores locally and one in China next year, an official said.
The Chinese-language Economic Daily News estimated the new stores would generate NT$21 billion in the first year, boosting the firm’s overall revenue to more than NT$100 billion.
The official declined to comment on the report.
NT dollar advances sharply
The New Taiwan dollar advanced to its strongest level in more than two years, driven in part by optimism that China would boost holdings of assets in developing economies as its foreign-exchange assets expand.
The NT dollar closed 0.6 percent higher at NT$30.770, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency reached NT$30.540, the strongest level since July 2008. It was trading 0.9 percent stronger at NT$30.675 two minutes before paring its gain.
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