TAIEX little changed
The TAIEX closed little changed yesterday after strong technical pressure ahead of the key 9,000- point mark reversed early gains posted by follow-through buying from the previous session, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 3.07 points to 8,972.51, on turnover of NT$103.25 billion (US$3.56 billion).
“Investors remained wary in the face of the stiff technical resistance at around 9,000 points after the market repeatedly failed to stand above that level in recent sessions,” Hua Nan Securities (華南永昌投顧) analyst Henry Miao (苗台生) said.
Although Intel posted better-than-expected quarter results, many investors remained reluctant to chase prices after the market rose in early morning trade, Miao said.
“The local semiconductor sector has appeared resilient in recent sessions as the market widely expected Intel’s rosy results,” Miao said.
“That particular positive factor has pretty much been reflected in share prices,” he said. “Now, investors are nervous, waiting for more results reports on Wall Street.”
HTC investing in Shanghai F-road
HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s No. 4 smartphone brand, yesterday said it was planning to invest US$5.5 million in Shanghai F-road Commerce Service Co (上海方付通商務服務) through subsidiary HTC HK Ltd.
Shanghai F-road is a mobile application developer that tailor-makes apps for financial institutions to offer mobile financial services on smartphones. These apps include mobile banking, finances top-up, and mobile payment, according to its Web site.
Highwealth buys Kaohsiung land
Highwealth Construction Corp (興富發建設) spent NT$971 million to buy a piece of land in Kaohsiung from King’s Town Construction Co (京城建設), Highwealth said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Power plant startup delayed
Taiwan Power Co (台電) may delay the startup of its No. 4 nuclear power plant by a year to around the end of next year because of cable problems, public relations officer Huang Huei-yu (黃惠予) said by phone yesterday.
Vending machine reads faces
A face-recognizing vending machine developed in Taiwan is able to offer hair-growing tonic to balding men and razors to people with beards, one of the inventors said yesterday.
The vending machine, from Taipei-based Innovative DigiTech-Enabled Applications and Services Institute (資策會創新服務研究所), is equipped with a camera that reads the faces of shoppers and then suggests products according to their gender and age.
NT dollar rises for seventh week
The New Taiwan dollar rose for a seventh week, the longest streak since October, on speculation investors would increase holdings of the nation’s assets as growth accelerates.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said last month that GDP probably increased more than 10 percent last year. The currency reached a 13-year high yesterday and was 2 percent stronger a minute before the close, before ending little changed on suspected central bank intervention.
“All central banks are on the alert,” said Tarsicio Tong (湯健揚), a Taipei-based currency trader at Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行).
Authorities “will let the Taiwan dollar appreciate, but not too fast,” he said.
The NT dollar rose 0.7 percent this week to NT$29.600 against the US dollar, according to Taipei Forex Inc. It reached NT$29.006 yesterday, the highest level since October 1997.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure