TAIEX hits 30-month high
Taiwan’s benchmark index closed up 0.58 percent yesterday as buying rotated to the high-tech sector after its recent consolidation, boosting the index to a 30-month high, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 50.05 points to 8,753.84, the highest level since May 27, 2008, after moving between 8,736.77 and 8,782.82, on turnover of NT$159.63 billion (US$5.29 billion). A total of 2,227 stocks closed up and 1,944 down, while 383 remained unchanged.
Far Eastern takes on Chengdu
Far Eastern Department Stores (遠東百貨) yesterday held a construction ceremony for its fourth outlet in China.
Poised to open in May, the Chengdu outlet will be its flagship mall by boasting a full array of luxury brands offering customers a high-end shopping experience, according to a company statement. The Chengdu branch is located opposite City Tower, a landmark in the city, and occupies one underground floor and eight upper floors within a 37-story commercial building. Its total floor space is 56,000m2.
Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) is currently operating three more Far Eastern Department Stores in China with bases in Chongqing, Tianjin and Wuxi. It is eyeing the growing spending power in China with a “dual brand” strategy, with another brand being Pacific Department Stores (太平洋百貨).
Barclays securities arm allowed
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday approved the plan by Barclays Bank PLC to set up a securities subsidiary in Taiwan.
The British financial service firm will wire about NT$600 million to Taiwan in the near future for the establishment of the new securities unit, the commission said.
Barclays is ranked as the 21st-largest company in the world by Forbes Global 2000 for this year.
The securities brokerage may start to operate after Barclays goes through company registration and other procedures in six months, the commission said.
ING divests Fubon stake
ING Groep, which owns a 5 percent stake in Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), transferred its shares to a global institutional investor on Wednesday and carried out the deal via the local bourse yesterday, Fubon Financial said in a statement.
The Netherlands-based firm divested its stock in Fubon Financial in order to focus on its own banking business, the statement said.
ING obtained Fubon shares after completing the sale of its local insurance unit, ING Antai Life Insurance Co (ING安泰人壽), to Fubon Financial in February last year, the statement said, adding the latest share transfer would make Fubon’s equities structure more stable.
Mosel gets deadline extension
Mosel Vitelic Inc (茂矽) said it received approval from most of its creditor banks to extend the payment deadline on debt to the end of next year, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said in an exchange filing yesterday.
Separately, Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀) sold NT$10.3 billion in seven-year subordinated debentures at an annual interest rate of 1.53 percent to meet medium to long-term needs for funds, while Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) sold NT$13.3 billion of 1.53 percent bonds due in 2017.
NT dollar rises 0.5 percent
The New Taiwan dollar advanced 0.5 percent yesterday to close at NT$30.555 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency was trading 2 percent stronger two minutes before the close and pared gains on speculation the central bank intervened to curb appreciation.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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