TAIEX climbs 0.81 percent
The TAIEX closed up 0.81 percent yesterday, with trading volume plunging to NT$54.29 billion (US$1.8 billion), its lowest level since Feb. 2, 2009.
The market opened up 101.68 points after the opening bell, sending the index to the day’s high of 7,002.09 before it fell below the psychological level of 7,000 points a short time after noon to close at 6,949.04 on weak trading volume.
The TAIEX closed up 55.74 points, boosted by a surge on Wall Street and in European markets on Friday, on turnover of NT$54.29 billion.
A total of 1,647 stocks closed up and 1,635 were down, with 507 remaining unchanged.
AGV stocks climb 1.13 percent
Shares of AGV Products Corp (愛之味), a Taiwanese drinks and food-product maker, climbed 1.13 percent to NT$8.94 yesterday after the company announced a share buyback scheme last week to prop up its flagging share prices.
In a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday, the company said it would repurchase 20 million shares, or 4 percent of total outstanding stock, for between NT$6.73 and NT$14.46 from yesterday through Feb. 10. The company would then transfer the repurchased shares to its employees, the statement said.
Yuanta, Polaris approve merger
The boards of Yuanta Investment Trust (元大投信) and Polaris Investment Trust (寶來投信) yesterday gave approval for a merger plan that is slated to go into effect on May 6, Yuanta said in a statement.
The merger will give the integrated firm, Yuanta Polaris Investment Trust, a market share of 17.6 percent, ahead of peers in the domestic market and ranking it as one of the world’s top 400 fund managers, the statement said.
The merger scheme will allow Polaris shareholders to swap each of their shares for 1.4388 shares in Yuanta, with the paid-in capital of Yunta Polaris standing at NT$2.27 billion, the statement said.
As of last month, assets under management at the two firms totaled NT$321.7 billion, the statement said.
Trendnet to build logistics hub
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has signed a letter of intent with Trendnet, a US-based network solution provider, for future investment in Taiwan, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.
California-based Trendnet plans to set up a logistics hub in Taiwan to manage Asia-Pacific operations, with an initial capital of NT$150 million, the Economic Daily News reported.
The logistics hub will be based in either Greater Taichung or Greater Kaohsiung, the paper said, citing Ling Chia-yuh (凌家裕), a director-general of the ministry’s Department of Investment Services.
Bank of China follows mergers
Bank of China Ltd (中國銀行) “will pay attention to” merger and acquisition opportunities overseas as it follows Chinese corporate clients into new markets, Bank of China president Li Lihui (李禮輝) said after opening a branch in Japan.
China’s third-largest lender by total assets will also add branches in markets where it already has a presence, Li was quoted as saying in the transcript of an interview posted to the bank’s Web site yesterday. Bank of China sees further opportunities in Japan arising from trade between the two countries, Li said.
NT climbs against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.009 to close at NT$30.230.
Turnover totaled US$488 million during the trading session.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS