The stock market surged 1.92 percent to close at 7,603.23 yesterday, as investors’ confidence was boosted by news that Greece would scrap a proposed referendum, which has since been confirmed, over an EU bailout fund, raising fresh hopes that the European debt crisis could ease.
The European Central Bank’s (ECB) unexpected move to cut key interest rates by 25 basis points to shore up the eurozone’s economy also helped lift share prices.
Turnover rose to NT$110.49 billion (US$3.68 billion) from NT$106.03 billion on Thursday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
“The TAIEX followed yesterday’s [Thursday] global stock markets’ rebound, mainly due to relief over Greece’s decision to call off a referendum, as well as the ECB’s move to cut its key interest rates,” said Chang Shu-hui (張淑蕙), a fund manager at Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust Enterprise Co (保德信投信), in an investment note.
Foreign investors bought a net total of NT$4.9 billion in shares, giving the New Taiwan dollar a boost. The local currency rose NT$0.195 to close at NT$30.025 against the US dollar yesterday, central bank data showed.
The electronics sub-index rose 1.71 percent, led by LED and LCD panel makers on news that the Chinese government might forbid the use of incandescent light bulbs.
Shares of Epistar Corp (晶電), the nation’s largest LED chipmaker, rallied 6.93 percent to NT$64.80.
Meanwhile, shares of the nation’s two biggest LCD panel manufacturers, Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), soared 6.64 percent and 6.79 percent to NT$13.65 and NT$14.95 respectively, with both hitting their highest levels in about three months.
The auto sub-index surged 3.47 percent, while the financial sub-index increased 2.61 percent, according to stock exchange data.
Chang expected the local stock market to regain momentum in the near future, as the TAIEX has lagged behind most Asian stock markets’ recent rebound.
However, lingering concern over the eurozone debt crisis remains a major risk for the stock market, Chang said, adding that these uncertainties could lead to volatile trading in the short term.
Eric Li (李俊毅), a fund manager at Allianz Global Investors Taiwan Ltd (德盛安聯投信), shared Chang’s view.
“There are still a lot of details to be clarified and confirmed about the eurozone’s debt problem and Greece’s referendum issue,” Li said in an investment note.
Li expected makers of lower-priced electronics products — such as middle to low-end smartphones and LED TVs — to lead the index’s rise in the near term, saying these products usually have stronger growth momentum than higher-priced products in a slowing economy.
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],”
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
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