AUSTRALIA
Interest rates held at 2.5%
The nation’s central bank yesterday left interest rates on hold at a historic low of 2.5 percent, in a widely expected move four days ahead of national elections. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) last month cut rates to their lowest level since it was established in 1959, underscoring fears of a slowdown as country’s decade-long mining boom slows down. The RBA, which has cut rates by 25 basis points twice this year — in May and last month — said it would continue to assess the outlook and adjust policy as needed to foster sustainable growth in demand and inflation outcomes consistent with its target.
UNITED KINGDOM
Retail sales growth eases
Growth in British retail sales eased slightly last month after a bumper July, but demand for furniture helped to sustain the momentum, industry data showed yesterday. The British Retail Consortium said the total value of retail sales was 3.6 percent higher last month than a year ago, compared with 3.9 percent annual growth the previous month, which was the best July since 2006. Like-for-like sales, which strip out changes in floor space as retailers open and close outlets, rose 1.8 percent on the year, compared with 2.2 percent in July. The survey suggested Britons are feeling more confident about committing to big purchases, citing rising sales of furniture and flooring.
SPAIN
Unemployment down by 31
The country said yesterday it had eked out a sixth straight month of shrinking jobless queues last month when the number of people registered as unemployed dipped by just 31 people. The total number of registered unemployed — 4.70 million in raw figures — was basically unchanged, according to the Labor Ministry report. However, the decline of 31 people from the previous month was enough for the Spanish government to hail a sixth consecutive month of declines, and the first drop in the month of August since 2000. When the figures were corrected to smooth out seasonal variations, the number of claimants fell by a more substantial 13,700 people to 4.87 million.
SECURITIES
Investors sue Everbright
Everbright Securities Co (光大證券), ordered by China’s securities regulator to pay a record 523 million yuan (US$85 million) for insider trading, was sued by investors in Guangzhou and Shanghai seeking damages for losses. Courts in the two cities have received the claims and have not yet decided whether to accept them, lawyers for the investors, said yesterday. State-controlled Everbright sold exchange-traded funds and index futures on Aug. 16, before telling the market it had made 23.4 billion yuan of erroneous buy orders. The regulator barred the company from most proprietary trading, and banned four of its executives from the market for life.
ENERGY
Gazprom net profits rise
The world’s largest gas company, the state-controlled Russian giant Gazprom, yesterday announced that its net profits rose 5 percent in the first quarter to 380.7 billion rubles (US$11.4 billion). The rise in profits was driven by an increase in net sales of 19 percent, helped largely by an increase of sales of Gazprom’s core gas product by 25 percent over the period, the company said in a statement.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is