TAIEX up on foreign inflows
The TAIEX moved higher yesterday as foreign institutional investors kept moving funds into the local bourse, with ample liquidity pushing the index past the 7,900 mark, dealers said.
Interest focused on “China concept stocks” that have close business ties with China, such as auto and textile manufacturers, while the flat panel sector came under pressure after AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) reported worse-than-expected results for the fourth quarter of last year, they said.
The index closed up 40.87 points, or 0.52 percent, at the day’s high of 7,910.78, off an early low of 7,840.78, on turnover of NT$169.37 billion (US$5.74 billion). AUO closed down 3.55 percent at NT$16.30, while rival Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子) ended down 3.76 percent at NT$16.65.
Nod for bank’s China branch
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday approved plans by Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) to set up two new outlets in China to lift its presence there.
The state-run lender plans to open its second branch in Tianjin and a further outlet in Suzhou, where its first Chinese branch is located, the FSC said.
Under Chinese rules Taiwanese banks can have only one branch in any individual province, but they may apply to have more outlets. Domestic lenders have pressed the FSC for its help in persuading China to remove the one-branch cap.
HSBC fined over staff fraud
HSBC Taiwan is facing a penalty of NT$2 million for negligence of internal control after one of the lender’s employees bilked eight customers of NT$770,000, the FSC said yesterday.
The fraud resulted from the staffer making cash withdrawals on inactive accounts, the FSC said, adding that the staffer had since been fired.
Hua Nan’s income jumps
Hua Nan Financial Holding Co (華南金控) yesterday posted NT$892 million in net income last month, jumping 42.62 percent from one month earlier and 21.86 percent from a year earlier, according to its stock filing.
The figures translated into NT$0.11 earnings per share.
The state-run financial service provider attributed the gains to improving business at its banking, securities and non-life insurance units.
Most apps in life are free
Just over 7 percent of polled office workers said they regularly paid to download apps onto their tablet PCs or smart phones, according to the results of an online survey released yesterday.
The survey, conducted by 1111 job bank, said only 7.05 percent of workers often paid for apps, with 60.98 percent saying they only use free apps and 31.97 percent admitting to sometimes paying for their downloads.
Among the workers who were willing to pay for software, 46.6 percent bought gaming or entertainment apps, while 21.35 percent of the polled workers paid for apps related to transport and weather, the survey said.
NT rises against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US currency yesterday, adding NT$0.035 to close at NT$29.495, due to continuing fund inflows, as foreign institutional investors continued to bet on further gains in the local bourse, dealers said.
The NT dollar bucked the declines suffered by most Asian currencies amid cautious sentiment over the debt situation in the eurozone ahead of a European leaders’ meeting, they said. Turnover totaled US$866 million during yesterday’s 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