TAIEX bounces back
The TAIEX yesterday recouped almost all of the losses suffered in the previous session, as concerns over the debt crisis in the eurozone eased after European leaders guaranteed that financially troubled Greece would stay in the eurozone, dealers said.
Following a 2.61 percent increase in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index overnight, investors scrambled to pick up high tech stocks, in particular semiconductor shares, but buying also spread to other sectors until the end of the session, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 157.21 points, or 2.17 percent, at 7,385.68, after moving between 7,348.21 and 7,430.29, on turnover of NT$101.14 billion (US$3.41 billion).
External debt paid off
Taiwan has no external debt after repaying the last installment of US$238,238 to Saudi Arabia yesterday, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
The ministry said the government borrowed US$15.76 million from Saudi Arabia in 1976 to build the Zhongsha Bridge in central Taiwan.
The government has outstanding domestic debts of NT$4.6 trillion as of the end of last month, which is about 34.67 percent of average annual GNP for the last three years, the ministry said.
Firms to move into HBSP
A total of 12 firms have been approved to take up residence in the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park (HBSP) with NT$1.62 billion (US$54 million) in investments, park authorities said yesterday.
The 12 firms are the first investors to enter the science park, said Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), which currently operates the biomedical park.
HSP said the 12 investors would be located in the biomedical park’s biotech building, where they would develop technology including artificial tooth roots, orthopedic implants, drug delivery systems and other high-end medical products.
Inventec employees killed
Notebook contract maker Inventec Corp (英業達) yesterday said 11 employees died and 13 were injured in a bus crash in Shanghai on Wednesday night.
A company shuttle bus carrying 24 employees was heading back to the staff dormitory after completing maintenance work at a client’s facility, Inventec said in a statement.
The bus collided with the vehicle in front and then flipped over after running into the protective railing.
Fubon Life buys real estate
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) purchased NT$1.59 billion in real estate in Taipei city yesterday, parent company Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The life insurer also plans to buy shares in the Hong Kong listing of CITIC Securities Co (中信證券) and Tenfu (Cayman) Holdings Ltd (天福開曼控股), Fubon Financial said in separate statements to the stock exchange, without providing further details.
NT dollar falls back
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, shedding NT$0.01, to close at NT$29.635 after the greenback recouped early losses with local central bank intervention, dealers said.
The greenback’s rebound also reflected lingering concerns over the debt crisis in Europe, although European leaders guaranteed that financially-troubled Greece would stay in the eurozone.
The fall of the South Korean won and the Japanese yen added downward pressure on the NT dollar, they added.
Turnover totalled US$838 million during the trading session.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by