TAIEX trending up
The inflow of foreign capital helped Taiwan’s benchmark index push back above the 7,900-point level yesterday, continuing its upward trend since the end of the Lunar New Year holiday period late last month.
The TAIEX opened slightly higher, but moved to the day’s low of 7,837.58 in early trading. It returned to positive territory at about 10am and later touched a high of 7,917.96, before closing up 50.64 points, or 0.64 percent, at 7,912.91 on turnover of NT$136.29 billion (US$4.62 billion).
MOEA denies rate hikes
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) denied reports yesterday of impending utility rate hikes, saying there was no timetable for such increases.
Media reports of higher domestic gas rates for this month were “simply based on speculation,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We’ve been studying the matter in a cautious and well-advised manner, since such issues have a great impact [on people’s lives],” Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said.
The government’s discussions would take into consideration the economy, society and the financial situation of utility companies, he said.
Wowprime IPO postponed
The initial public offering (IPO) of Wowprime Corp (王品), which owns 11 restaurant brands in Taiwan and China, has been postponed until early next month from Feb. 21 as planned.
According to Chinese-language online news outlet Cnyes.com yesterday, the stock exchange authority has asked Wowprime to provide more information on its financial performance in China because its IPO requires consolidated financial data from both markets.
In China, Wowprime has a presence in 15 cities with the offerings of two brands — Wang Steak (王品) and Tasty (西堤) — and is targeting seven other Chinese cities this year, the Web site reported. Wowprime also plans to roll out its third brand “12 Sabu” (石二鍋) by the end of the year, the report said.
Japanese group to sign MOU
Business representatives from Taiwan and Japan will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) today in Taipei with the aim of boosting their countries’ economies, according to the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院).
The memorandum would serve as the basis for investment cooperation and technological exchanges between small and medium-sized enterprises on both sides, CIER said in a statement.
The signing of the MOU is one of the items on the agenda of a 30-member Japanese delegation that arrived in Taiwan yesterday and is visiting until Thursday. The Japanese delegation is led by Fukui Prefecture Governor Issei Nishikawa. Fukui’s trade activity focuses on the export of textiles, machinery and eyewear, and imports of aluminum ore and machinery.
Lite-On CEO heads unit
Local electronics component maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday announced that Lite-On Group (光寶集團) chief executive officer Warren Chen (陳廣中) has been appointed to serve as Lite-On Technology chief executive.
Meanwhile, K.C. Terng (滕光中) will serve as Lite-On Group vice chief executive, the company said in a statement. Both appointments were effective as of yesterday, it said.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, rising NT$0.025 to close at NT$29.535 on turnover of US$586 million.
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