TAIEX continues rebound
The nation’s benchmark index continued to gain momentum yesterday from the previous session, reflecting the rallies on Wall Street and in the European markets overnight after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a series of measures to boost banks’ capital, dealers said.
Buying in the local bourse continued to focus on financial heavyweights and large-cap old-economy stocks, while the bellwether electronics sector ran out of steam amid concerns over weakening global demand, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 79.96 points, or 1.12 percent, at 7,211.96, on turnover of NT$100.14 billion (US$3.29 billion).
The market opened up 1.14 percent amid improved sentiment toward financial conditions in the eurozone in response to the ECB plan. The momentum extended, pushing the index to the day’s high, as investors saw other markets in the region post gains on a similar upbeat mood, dealers said.
Tatung chairman indicted
Lin Wei-shan (林蔚山), chairman of Tatung Co (大同), a leading Taiwanese home appliance maker, has been indicted on embezzlement charges and could face a 20-year jail sentence if convicted, the Banciao District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
Prosecutors are charging Lin with violating the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) for allegedly embezzling funds from Tatung to pay off a NT$1.9 billion loan from Tung Da Electric Co (通達機電), a company established by Lin, and then immediately dissolving Tung Da.
Lin and his wife, Tatung executive vice president Lin Kuo Wen-yen (林郭文豔), were questioned by prosecutors and investigators in January after they searched Tatung’s office and Lin’s residences.
Lin and his wife told a Tatung shareholders’ meeting on June 24 that they had been framed.
Tatung said it would not comment before it receives a formal notice of the indictment.
IPhone anticipated next month
The iPhone 4S, the newly unveiled smartphone model from Apple Inc, is expected to become available in local stores in the middle of next month at the earliest, sources from the local telecoms sector said on Wednesday.
The prediction is based on past experience, they said, adding that Apple usually introduces new devices in Taiwan one month after their official launch.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), one of Taiwan’s top three telecoms operators, said on Wednesday it had not yet received notice from Apple about the local launch date and remained unclear about local prices and the fees it would charge.
Cathay Real Estate to enter PRC
Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) plans to set up a property company in China and invest up to NT$6 billion there, the Taiwan-based developer said in a statement to the local stock exchange yesterday.
NT dollar closes up 0.4%
The New Taiwan dollar advanced to its strongest level this week, as international funds boosted holdings of local stocks on optimism the country’s economy will withstand the fallout of slowing global growth.
Overseas funds bought US$249 million more Taiwanese stocks than they sold on Thursday, the most in three weeks, and added another US$92.7 million yesterday, according to exchange data.
The NT dollar appreciated 0.4 percent to NT$30.493 against its US counterpart as of the 4pm close, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency touched NT$30.460 earlier, its strongest level this week. It was little changed from a week ago.
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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