TAIEX closes above 9,000
Taiwan’s benchmark index closed above the 9,000-point mark yesterday amid ample liquidity, as bargain hunters were active picking up large cap stocks, helping the market reverse earlier losses, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 71.26 points, or 0.79 percent, to end at 9,018.61, after moving between 8,907.97 and 9,029.58, on turnover of NT$134.33 billion (US$4.7 billion).
Forex reserves hit new high
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves rose to a new high of US$399.54 billion last month, up US$6.92 billion from one month earlier, on gains in the euro and other major reserve currencies as well as returns from its reserves management strategy, the central bank said in a statement yesterday.
The euro and other major currencies continued to appreciate against the greenback, the base currency, last month, boosting conversion values of assets denominated in those currencies, the central bank said.
The bank did not elaborate on its management strategy, but added the increase left Taiwan’s ranking unchanged as the world’s fourth-largest foreign exchange reserves holder.
HTC, Conexus talk cooperation
HTC Corp (宏達電) said yesterday that it was in discussions with Conexus Mobile Alliance on a cooperation agreement.
The Taoyuan-based smartphone maker’s remark came after the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported that Conexus Mobile Alliance chairman Andrew Kwok (郭詠邦) was scheduled to announce a procurement deal with HTC in Taipei today.
Conexus is a regional group of telecom carriers including Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), Hong Kong’s Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd (和記電訊國際), South Korea’s KT Corp, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, Indonesia’s PT Indosat, the Philippines’ Smart Communications Inc and Singapore’s StarHub Pte Ltd.
CPC mulls overseas depots
CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油), might build oil depots overseas and expand domestic storage to bolster energy security.
The state-owned refiner could spend between NT$60 billion and NT$100 billion on depots in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam and construct additional tanks at home, deputy director of CPC’s industrial relations division Jessica Tang (唐苑莉) said by telephone yesterday. She did not provide an investment or construction schedule.
CPC will spend NT$1.6 billion to construct 15 oil tanks in Vietnam, the Commercial Times reported yesterday, citing anonymous sources.
Ralink to become MediaTek unit
Ralink Technology Corp (雷凌) will become a wholly owned subsidiary of MediaTek Inc (聯發科) after a planned merger, both companies said in statements to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
MediaTek on March 16 said it would acquire Ralink through a share swap of one share for 3.15 Ralink shares.
Taishin announces payout
Taishin Financial Holdings Co (台新金控) plans to pay a cash dividend of NT$0.23 per share on last year’s earnings, along with a 7 percent stock dividend, or 70 shares for every 1,000 shares held by investors, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
NT dollar moves up NT$0.038
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.038 to close at NT$28.632.
Turnover totaled US$954 million during the trading session.
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
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
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