Net fund outflow hits US$150m
Foreign institutional investors recorded a net fund outflow of about US$150 million last month, after earning huge cash dividends from their investments in the local bourse, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) said yesterday.
However, the fund repatriation appears to be limited, Tseng said, who remained optimistic about the local equity market.
Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) was similarly upbeat on Tuesday, saying the economy was recovering.
The TAIEX rose 0.54 percent to 9,450.35 points yesterday, after declining 1.19 percent in the previous session.
Evergreen, Mariana team up
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the nation’s largest container shipping firm in terms of fleet size, said on Tuesday it would partner with Mariana Express Lines Pte Ltd of Australia in launching a joint service between southern China and eastern Malaysia.
The two shippers will employ two vessels with a capacity of about 1,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) each for the service, with the first set to depart from China’s Shekou on Wednesday next week, Evergreen said.
As part of its ongoing efforts to improve network connections in the region, Evergreen will also provide services between Singapore, Myanmar and Malaysia originally run by Japan’s Interasia Lines Ltd under a slot swap arrangement.
Himax to develop smart glasses
Himax Technologies Inc (奇景光電), which designs chips used in flat-panel displays, said on Tuesday its subsidiary would team up with French firm Optinvent SA to develop advanced smart glasses.
Himax Display Inc (立景光電), which supplies microdisplay panels to Google Inc, and Optinvent, a producer of the patented ORA smart glasses that feature a “see-through” display so as not to obstruct regular vision, will undertake the partnership to develop next-generation augmented reality glasses, Himax Technologies said in a statement.
The new product is expected to be among the most technologically advanced products in the smart glass market when released, the company said.
Yageo sales rose last month
Yageo Corp (國巨), the nation’s largest passive components maker, yesterday said consolidated sales rose to NT$2.37 billion last month, up 1.3 percent from July and 7 percent from a year ago.
Sales in the first eight months of the year increased to NT$18.36 billion, 9.7 percent higher than the same period a year ago, it said in a stock exchange filing.
Makalot posts solid revenue
Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽), a diversified garment manufacturer for global brands and major clothing retailers, yesterday said that sales rose 23.3 percent month-on-month and 30.03 percent year-on-year to NT$2.04 billion last month.
Cumulative revenue from January through last month totaled NT$13.25 billion, up 15.59 percent year-on-year, Makalot said.
Daiwa Capital Markets Inc said Makalot’s sales in the second half could grow 19.7 percent from a year earlier and net profit could increase 28.5 percent, with US customers such as Target and GAP driving the sales momentum.
Giga Solar sales mixed
Giga Solar Materials Corp (碩禾), a provider of conductive materials for solar cells, yesterday said that revenue fell 7.63 percent last month from July to NT$761.74 million, but rose 107.44 percent from a year earlier.
Revenue from January to last month totaled NT$5.81 billion, increasing 100.75 percent from the same period last year, it said in a stock exchange filing.
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],”
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
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