TAIEX stages technical rebound
The TAIEX staged a technical rebound yesterday as investors resumed buying in the high-tech sector, boosting the broader market, dealers said.
However, turnover remained thin, as many investors remained on the sidelines, waiting for heavyweight firms on Wall Street to report their third-quarter earnings and give guidance for the fourth quarter, they said.
The weighted index closed up 52.12 points, or 0.70 percent, at the day’s high of 7,471.02.
Turnover increased to NT$58.41 billion (US$2 billion) from NT$46.38 billion on Monday, the lowest for a single trading day since May 28.
Chimei, AUO shares rise
Shares of leading flat panel suppliers Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子) and AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) moved sharply higher on heavy trading volume yesterday as investors hoped they would continue to benefit from solid demand in China, dealers said.
Shares in Chimei rose by the maximum 7 percent to end at NT$11.10, while those of AUO also rose 7 percent to close at NT$11.35 after the company’s American depositary receipts (ADRs) on Wall Street advanced overnight.
More workers take unpaid leave
The number of workers on unpaid leave is continuing to rise, the Council of Labor Affairs said in a release yesterday.
As of Monday, 2,040 workers from 37 companies had reached agreements with their employers to take unpaid leave, the council said.
This was an increase from Oct. 1, when 1,413 employees from 36 companies had agreed to such an arrangement, the council said.
It was also the fourth consecutive increase in the number of furloughed workers since the beginning of last month, as Taiwan’s economy shows few signs of recovery, according to the council’s previous reports. However, 12 of the 36 companies have discontinued the unpaid leave strategy, it said.
Government seeks investment
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said on Monday that the government hoped to attract at least NT$200 billion in investment within two years from Taiwanese companies operating in China to boost employment and help upgrade nation’s industrial base.
Citing the Small and Medium Enterprise Credit Guarantee Fund of Taiwan as an example, he said the government is planning to maintain NT$6 billion in the fund to ensure that businesses have sufficient capital.
TAIFEX signs MOU
The Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) said yesterday it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NYSE Euronext to explore bilateral business opportunities and connect their respective customer bases in Asia, Europe and the US through NYSE Euronext’s order routing system.
Under the MOU, the TAIFEX and NYSE Euronext will cooperate more closely in future product development and will share information and resources.
FSC approves bank plans
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday approved plans by Yuanta Bank (元大銀行) to set up a capital leasing subsidiary to expand its business map.
Yuanta Bank, the banking arm of Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控), intends to spend NT$600 million on creating the new unit after owning stakes in non-life insurance businesses, the commission said
NT dollar gains on greenback
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.056 to close at NT$29.289.
Turnover totaled US$818 million during the trading session.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by