Shares fall on eurozone woes
The TAIEX extended losses yesterday from the previous day as investors remained doubtful about whether the ongoing summit of European leaders will come up with effective measures to tackle the debt crisis in the eurozone, dealers said.
Sentiment was further dampened after the European Central Bank refused to commit to bond purchases to help debt-ridden eurozone members, dealers said.
This gave rise to worries that an escalation of the financial crisis would hurt the already fragile global economy, they said.
The TAIEX closed down 89.60 points or 1.29 percent at 6,893.30, after moving between 6,831.39 and 6,927.99, on turnover of NT$71.57 billion (US$2.37 billion).
Bank sells NT$100bn in CDs
The nation’s central bank sold NT$100 billion of 364-day certificates of deposit (CD) at an average interest rate of 0.898 percent at an auction yesterday, according to a statement posted on the bank’s Web site.
The sale attracted bids for 3.53 times the amount on offer, the central bank said in the statement.
President posts revenue
President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), the operator of Taiwan’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, yesterday posted revenue of NT$10.38 billion for last month, up 11.12 percent year-on-year as its offerings such as heat-retaining shirts, beverages and foodstuffs saw robust sales.
However, last month’s figure was 5.12 percent lower than the previous month’s level, company data showed.
Revenue for the first 11 months of the year totaled NT$112.05 billion, marking a growth of 6.79 percent from last year, according to a statement.
The company expected sales prospects this month to be equally upbeat because it has planned a series of products, such as hotpot ingredients and Christmas-themed toys and snacks, for the winter.
Less oil bought last month
Taiwan, which imports more than 99 percent of its crude oil needs, purchased less of the fuel in November after industrial output slowed, cutting energy demand.
Shipments declined 33 percent from a year earlier to 19.7 million barrels last month, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. The country’s oil bill last month dropped 11 percent to US$2.14 billion, the ministry said in a statement.
Industrial production increased the least in more than two years in October, a Ministry of Economic Affairs report said on Nov. 23. Output by petroleum and coal--product companies fell 4.6 percent.
Green Energy plans share sale
Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技), the nation’s biggest solar wafer maker, plans to sell 50 million new shares to repay bank loans, according to a statement on Thursday.
The company will scrap an earlier proposal to sell convertible bonds, it said in a separate exchange statement. The company in August said it planned to sell up to US$100 million of three-year overseas convertible bonds.
NT dollar falls NT$0.06
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US currency yesterday, down NT$0.06 to close at NT$30.239 amid lingering concerns over the debt problems in the eurozone, dealers said.
The selling showed many traders harbored doubts about whether a summit of European leaders would narrow their differences and provide a package to deal with the region’s financial crisis, they said.
A fall in Taiwan’s exports due to weakening global demand also prompted traders to cut their holdings in the local unit, they added.
Turnover totaled US$548 million during the trading session.
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