TAIEX closes above 9,000
Taiwan’s benchmark index closed up 0.71 percent yesterday, pushing the index above the key 9,000-point mark, on follow-through buying that focused on large-cap electronics stocks, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 64.20 points to 9,055.59, after moving between 9,009.18 and 9,072.76 points, on turnover of NT$128.97 billion (US$4.44 billion).
The market opened up 0.23 percent and extended momentum until the end of the session as investors scrambled to buy into select bellwether electronics stocks by taking advantage of their relatively low valuations after recent consolidation, the dealers said.
A total of 2,305 stocks closed up, 2,077 finished down and 466 remained unchanged.
Pegatron investing more in PRC
Pegatron Corp (和碩) plans to increase its investments in China by US$104 million, according to the company’s statements to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The company will invest an additional US$45 million in Ri-Teng Computer (Shanghai) Ltd (日騰電腦配件), US$10 million in Ri-Min Computer (Shanghai) Ltd (日銘電腦配件) and US$49 million in Shi-Shao Technology (Chongching) Ltd (旭碩科技), Taipei-based Pegatron said in the statements.
LCD inventories rebound: report
Inventories of LCD makers returned to “healthy” levels last month, eliminating concerns over excess inventories that had haunted the sector over the previous two months, according to a recently released research report.
The report released by market research and consulting firm DisplaySearch on Thursday last week said it expected prices of flat panels, in particular TV panels, to stabilize.
Last month, the research firm said, flat-panel inventories were down to an estimated seven or eight days for TV-use LCDs from eight to 10 days recorded in November, while desktop monitor-use LCD inventories were an estimated six or seven days from the previous month’s seven or eight days, and stayed at five to seven days for notebook computer-use LCDs.
Although inventories fell to a safe level last month, concerns over the high inventories for brand makers remained, DisplaySearch said.
Yuanta Financial gets money
Yuanta Financial Holdings Co (元大金控) said it got NT$16.5 billion after its unit Yuanta Securities Finance Co (元大證金) reduced its capital, according to a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The holding company used NT$3.8 billion to repay short-term debt and the remainder will be used to replenish working capital, the statement said.
Sharp suing AU Optronics
Japanese electronics firm Sharp Corp said on Tuesday it has filed a lawsuit against flat-panel maker AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) for patent infringement.
Sharp said it has also filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) on alleged infringement of seven of its patents related to LCD technology.
In a statement on its Web site, Sharp said LCD panels and LCD modules produced by AUO and any products sold by AUO’s customers in the US that use these LCD panels and modules represent an infringement of the seven patents it owns.
Sharp said it was seeking an order from the ITC to bar imports of these products — LCD TVs and monitors — in the US market.
NT dollar dips slightly
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, down NT$0.01 to close at the day’s high of NT$29.3 after the central bank intervened to curb appreciation of the local currency, dealers said.
Turnover totaled US$634 million during the trading session.
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