Stocks take a beating
Shares on the Taiwan Stock Exchange took a beating yesterday, pushing the index sharply lower to end below the 7,500 point mark amid lingering concerns over global economic fundamentals, dealers said.
Selling focused on large-cap stocks in both the high-tech and old economy sectors as investors attempted to profit in the futures market, where they had built up a large number of short-position contracts, they said.
The weighted index closed down 140.29 points, or 1.85 percent, at 7,451.72 — which represented the lowest level at the close since Sept. 7, when local share prices closed at 7,424.91 — on turnover of NT$81.79 billion (US$2.79 billion).
US trade delegation to visit
A delegation from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) and other US agencies will visit the nation later this month to discuss a resumption of major trade talks between the two sides, a government official said yesterday.
The visit by the interagency group, mainly comprising USTR members and US Department of State representatives, is expected to pave the way for reopening talks on the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), said Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of North American Affairs.
Issues likely to be discussed during the meeting with Taiwanese officials include the possibility of an agreement on investment protection and a free-trade agreement, as well as US support for Taiwan to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Linghu said.
No Toyota recall in Taiwan
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), the local agent for Japan-based Toyota Motor Corp, said yesterday that Toyota cars in Taiwan were unaffected by a massive recall announced a day earlier to fix malfunctioning power window switches.
Toyotas sold in Taiwan do not have the power window problem because they are made domestically by Kuozui Motors Ltd (國瑞汽車), Toyota’s manufacturer in Taiwan, an official at Hotai’s external affairs division said.
Toyota, Japan’s biggest automaker, said on Wednesday it was recalling 7.43 million vehicles worldwide, including certain models of the Yaris, Vios, Corolla, Matrix, Auris, Camry, RAV4 and Highlander made between 2005 and 2010.
Chunghwa profits fall 18.3%
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) said yesterday its profit fell 18.3 percent to NT$3.13 billion last month from a year earlier after operating expense grew 4.7 percent because of new retirement fee and rise in marketing spending.
In the first nine months, the nation’s largest telecoms company accumulated NT$30.96 billion, or NT$3.99 per share, in net profit, reaching 79 percent of its projected NT$39.18 billion for the whole of this year.
The nation’s No. 2 telecoms company, Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), posted NT$1.24 billion in net profit last month, down 11 percent year-on-year. That brought the January-September period net profits to NT$11.18 billion, or NT$4.16 a share, up 10 percent from the same period of last year, matching the company’s financial forecast.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co’s (遠傳電信) net income was NT$1.03 billion last month and NT$8.18 billion, or NT$2.51 per share, for the first nine months, the company said in a separate statement.
NT dollar falls against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.033 to close at NT$29.432.
Turnover totaled about US$681 million during the trading session.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”