TAIEX slides as large caps dip
The TAIEX closed down 0.7 percent yesterday as large-cap electronic stocks encountered heavy selling after the NASDAQ’s overnight fall, dealers said.
The weighted index closed down 63.85 points at 9,022.17, on turnover of NT$118.7 billion (US$4.03 billion).
Large-cap stocks took the brunt of the pressure, Concord Securities (康和證券) analyst Allen Lin said, adding that foreign investors sold shares to take profit.
Lin said investors were closely monitoring fourth-quarter earnings announcements from major bellwether electronics stocks. Largan Precision (大立光), the world’s largest cellphone camera lens supplier, on Wednesday reported huge foreign-exchange losses due to a stronger NT dollar.
Gintech rated ‘buy’: Citigroup
Citigroup Inc raised its rating on Gintech Energy Corp (昱晶) to “buy” from “hold,” saying the company’s plans to expand into solar-cell manufacturing and secure wafer supplies through an invested company should boost overall profit.
The brokerage raised its price target to NT$125 from NT$93.10, a report by analyst Timothy Lam said.
Samsung appoints president
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday announced the appointment of Moon Sunghyun as president of its office in Taiwan, effective immediately.
A veteran who has been with Samsung for 24 years, Moon has vast experience working overseas, including in Russia and Singapore, a company statement said.
During his two-year tenure in Singapore, Moon boosted Samsung’s LCD TV sales by 20 percent and smartphone sales by 14 percent, the statement read.
Hua Nan bullish on PRC: report
Hua Nan Commercial Bank Ltd’s (華南銀行) branch in Shenzhen, China, could turn profitable in its first year of operation, the Chinese-language United Evening News reported yesterday, citing chairman Lin Ming-cheng (林明成).
The bank opened the Shenzhen branch yesterday morning, the newspaper said.
Taiwan Co-op to issue debt
Taiwan Cooperative Bank’s (合作金庫銀行) board approved plans to sell up to NT$15 billion in subordinated debt to improve its capital adequacy ratio, the Taipei-based lender said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday.
Winbond soars as prices rise
Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電) rose to its highest in more than three years in Taipei trading amid expectations that prices of niche computer memory chips could continue rising and boost the company’s profitability, IBT Securities Co (台灣工銀證券 ) analyst Sun Xinming said.
The stock advanced 5.9 percent to NT$10.80 before retreating to close the day up 2.9 percent at NT$10.50.
Dukang Distillers to sell TDRs
The Financial Supervisory Commission has approved Dukang Distillers Holdings Ltd’s (杜康控股) plan to sell NT$2.21 billion of Taiwan depositary receipts, the regulator said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
Singapore-listed Dukang makes spirits principally in China.
NT dollar little changed
The NT dollar was little changed yesterday after approaching a 13-year high on suspected intervention by the central bank.
The local currency opened at NT$29.50 against the greenback and moved between NT$29.017 and NT$29.51 before the close.
It ended the day at NT$29.46, down NT$0.01 from Wednesday, on turnover of US$1.11 billion.
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