The TAIEX shed 0.37 percent to close at 9,111.46 yesterday — the first trading day after the Lunar New Year holiday — weighed by weakness in electronics and transportation shares amid a rising local currency and higher energy costs.
Turnover expanded to NT$161.37 billion (US$5.53 billion) from NT$143.05 billion on Jan. 28, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed, as investors trimmed holdings in electronics stocks and increased their stake in raw materials shares.
The weighted index opened high and climbed to 9,229.69 before heading south mid-session and dropping to an intraday low of 9,085.41.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
“The local bourse took a break today to reflect lackluster financial reports by some major technology firms,” Alan Tseng (曾炎裕), an analyst at Capital Securities Corp (群益證券), said by telephone.
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s largest handset chip designer, ended limit down, sliding 6.94 percent to NT$369.50 following the company’s announcement on Jan. 31 that fourth-quarter net income dropped 45.1 percent -quarter-on-quarter and 56.2 percent year-on-year because of sagging demand, falling prices and a stronger New Taiwan dollar.
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體), the world’s top chip-packaging and testing firm, fell 2.46 percent to NT$35.70 after net profit shrank 9.12 percent in the fourth quarter.
Tseng expected technology plays to remain weak this quarter because of seasonal effect, but added that the TAIEX could stage a modest comeback in the short term and rally above the 10,000-point mark toward the end of the year.
“Global demand for electronics could pick up in the second half, as the government introduces measures to boost investor confidence ahead of legislative and presidential elections,” Tseng said.
The electronics and semiconductor sub-indexes dipped 1.46 percent and 1.83 percent respectively, while transportation shares dropped 2.54 percent, stock exchange data showed.
Richie Su (蘇雙富), a fund manager at Taishin Investment Trust Co (台新投信), said that rising crude oil prices prompted investors to cut holdings in shipping and airline stocks.
China Airlines Ltd (華航) dropped 4.93 percent to NT$21.20, while EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) saw its shares fall 5.49 percent to NT$31.85.
However, the NT dollar’s continued advance, while dampening exporters’ profitability, is likely to benefit the stock market as the trend may draw more hot money into Taiwan, Su said.
Net buying by foreign investors reached NT$1.85 billion yesterday, while the NT dollar rose to a fresh 13-year high at NT$29.12 against the greenback, Taipei Forex Inc data showed.
The NT dollar breached the NT$29 mark and hit NT$28.90 in midday trade.
“More funds will flow to Asia to take advantage of its fast--growing economy,” Su said. “The political unrest in Egypt will accelerate the trend.”
A currency trader at Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行) agreed that the NT dollar was under further pressure to appreciate.
“The NT dollar may close at NT$28.8 later this month given the slow, but steady pace of gain as well as a weak greenback,” the trader said on condition of anonymity.
The trader expected the central bank to keep its defense of the local currency at the NT$28.5 level to help support exporters.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”