TAIEX stays above 7,000 points
The TAIEX recovered most of its early losses yesterday to close above the 7,000-point mark as select large cap stocks staged a technical rebound from the previous day’s slump, dealers said.
Dealers said they suspected that government-led funds stepped in to back market heavyweights and shore up investor confidence, which has been jolted by renewed concerns over debt problems in the eurozone.
The weighted index closed down 20.38 points, or 0.29 percent, at 7,008.35, after moving between 6,968.78 and 7,015.76, on turnover of NT$53.22 billion (US$1.77 billion).
HTC denies Beats ‘rumor’
Smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday dismissed a report by the technology news site CNET alleging that the company had sold back part of its stake in Beats Electronics LLC because it could not fulfill its financial commitments to the US audio firm.
“The report was a rumor,” HTC public relations manager Jessica Pan (潘瑞蓮) said by telephone.
HTC acquired a 51 percent stake in Beats Electronics for about US$309 million in August last year. However, the company announced on Sunday that it would sell nearly half of its stake back to the US company for US$150 million, with an investment loss of US$4.88 million.
HTC shares closed down 2.26 percent at NT$280.50 yesterday, declining 42.25 percent this year to date and 68.87 percent from a year ago, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
CPC to sell NT$16.5bn in bonds
CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) announced yesterday that it had sold NT$16.5 billion (US$547.9 million) in corporate bonds. The refiner said it planned to use the proceeds to boost its working capital.
The sale of NT$16.5 billion in bonds is made up of NT$4.2 billion in five-year bonds, NT$3.6 billion in seven-year bonds and NT$8.7 billion in 10-year bonds, CPC said in a statement on the Ministry of Economic Affairs Web site.
CPC will pay an annual coupon rate of 1.18 percent for the five-year bonds, 1.29 percent for the seven-year bonds and 1.42 percent for the 10-year debt, according to the statement.
AU Optronics sells solar stake
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s No. 2 LCD panel maker, said on Monday it planned to sell all of its stake in a Chinese solar company for 226 million yuan (US$35.39 million) via its Japanese solar wafer manufacturing arm M. Setek Co.
AUO said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Monday that it would sell all of its holding in Hebei Ningjin Songgong Semiconductor Co (河北寧晉松宮半導體) to JA Solar Holdings Co (京澳太陽能), another major shareholder in the Hebei-based solar firm, in a bid to better utilize its assets.
AUO said the sale would not undercut the company’s strength in the solar business.
FSC fines Cathay Bank NT$2m
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday fined Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), the banking arm of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), NT$2 million for lax internal control in approving loans for related borrowers.
Banking rules require that loan applications of NT$100 million (US$3.33 million) or more must win board approval. The lender failed to win board approval when reviewing loans applications from related borrowers, the commission said.
NT drops against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar continued a slide against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.021 to close at NT$30.116.
Turnover totaled US$896 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],”
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained
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