Citigroup Global Markets said yesterday it maintained a previous forecast that the TAIEX would hit 10,000 points this year, partly on strong capital inflows.
Meanwhile, the presidential election scheduled for January next year is expected to prompt the government to support the local stock market in the run-up to the election to secure victory and stay in power as past governments had done, the brokerage said.
With closer business ties across the Taiwan Strait and relaxed cross-strait investment rules, Citigroup said, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government has encouraged Taiwanese investors operating in China to repatriate funds.
Citigroup said if both sides eliminated double taxation, the capital repatriation from China to Taiwan could total US$40 billion a year.
Authorities on both sides are aiming to sign an agreement in this area, but further negotiations are needed to cut a deal.
As for a likely rally because of the presidential election, Citigroup said the upswing is unlikely to come into full force until the fourth quarter this year, while bank stocks may lead gains as the sector is the most sensitive to government policies.
In addition to the financial sector, Citigroup is upbeat about share price gains posted by the local foundry sector, as well as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, on their relatively low valuations.
Citigroup has a target price of NT$148.00 on Hon Hai.
The brokerage has removed smartphone manufacturer HTC Corp (宏達電) from its top “buy” list as the stock appeared expensive after a recent strong showing.
The brokerage added specialty steelmaker Gloria Material Technology (榮剛材料) and aluminum and magnesium products provider Catcher Technology (可成科技) to its top “buy” list.
Among its top “sell” stocks are IC designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科), PC vendor Acer Inc (宏碁) and touch-panel maker Young Fast Optoelectronics Co (洋華).
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
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