TAIEX, Asia benchmarks down
The nation’s benchmark index followed Asia’s lead and ended lower yesterday as the political stalemate over the US’ debt ceiling continued, with several old-economy stocks falling more than 1 percent, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed down 81.81 points, or 0.93 percent, at 8,683.51, after moving between 8,661.76 and 8,786.03 on turnover of NT$101.254 billion (US$3.5 billion).
Markets around Asia were down, with exchanges in the Philippines, India and Thailand the only ones to buck the trend.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.81 percent to 10,050, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.68 percent to 22,293.30 and China’s Shanghai SE Composite lost 2.96 percent to 2,688.75.
Office auction canceled
The planned auction of an office building in downtown Taipei fell through yesterday because most potential buyers favored converting the building from a commercial property into a residential property, bidding organizer DTZ said.
The building, on a plot of land measuring 542 ping (1,791.7m2) near the intersection of Xinyi Road and Dunhua S Road, is owned by Prince Motors Co (太子汽車) and has a floor price of NT$10.3 billion, DTZ said.
More than 10 potential bidders made several inspection tours and suggested the building should apply for conversion into a residential property to meet the current high demand for luxury housing in the city, DTZ said.
Sinyi Realty opens in China
Sinyi Realty Co (信義房屋) yesterday opened a branch in Qingdao, in China’s Shandong Province, as part of its continued pursuit to boost its standing in the Chinese market, the nation’s only listed broker said in a statement.
The branch is a joint venture with Qingdao Urban Construction Group (青島城建), but Sinyi declined to supply information on respective stakes.
Founder Fubon Fund unveiled
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) yesterday inaugurated a joint venture with China-based Founder Holdings Co (方正集團) in Beijing, allowing it to issue funds in China.
The venture, Founder Fubon Fund Management Co (方正富邦基金管理), has initial capital of 200 million yuan (US$31 million). It is 33.3 percent owned by Fubon Financial and 66.7 percent by Founder Holdings.
Fubon vice chairman Richard Tsai (蔡明興) said in an opening speech that the company’s deployment in China’s financial and banking sector was almost complete.
Tsai said that a plan by Fubon Financial to tie in with Nanjing Zijin Investment Co (南京紫金) to set up a joint life insurance services venture in China was pending review by the authorities.
China Steel still deciding
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, is still evaluating investment in Malaysia’s Megasteel Sdn BHD, the Siaogang District (小港), Greater Kaohsiung-based company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
The comments came after the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday that the Taiwanese steelmaker planned to invest NT$10 billion in Megasteel.
China Steel said it has yet to make a decision on whether to invest in Megasteel, according to the statement.
NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar fell slightly against the US currency yesterday, down NT$0.029 to close at NT$28.859. Turnover totaled US$610 million.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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