OIL
Prices see minor rebound
A minor rebound on bargain-buying in Asian trade occurred yesterday following sharp falls that have seen prices hit multi-year lows owing to a supply glut and weak global demand, analysts said. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for November delivery climbed US$0.20 to US$82.04 a barrel in afternoon trade and Brent crude for November added US$0.30 to US$85.35. Brent on Tuesday tumbled 4.3 percent to levels not seen since 2010. WTI is still languishing at two-year lows after plummeting 4.5 percent in New York on Tuesday as the International Energy Agency slashed its demand forecast to 92.4 million barrels per day this year, 200,000 fewer than its previous growth forecast.
PHARMACEUTICALS
AbbVie rethinks takeover
London-listed pharmaceutical firm Shire PLC said it believed US suitor AbbVie Inc should proceed with its US$55 billion takeover despite a change to US regulations which curbed the tax benefits of the tie-up. Chicago-based AbbVie yesterday said it would reconsider a recommendation to its shareholders to back the Shire takeover. It had previously been eager to buy Shire, partly due to the opportunity to reduce its US tax bill by moving its tax base to Britain. However, last month, the US government announced tough new rules on corporate “inversion” deals — tie-ups which allow companies to escape high US taxes by reincorporating abroad, prompting concerns about the attractiveness of the deal.
TRADE
WTO backs US in dispute
The WTO has ruled in favor of US poultry and egg farmers in a dispute with India. US Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Tuesday that the WTO had ruled against Indian restrictions on US imports of meat and eggs that were intended to prevent avian influenza from entering that country. The restrictions began in 2007. The US argued in a 2012 challenge that there was no scientific basis for the restrictions and that they were inconsistent with international guidelines. There has not been an outbreak of high-pathogenic avian influenza in the US since 2004, officials said.
TOURISM
Singapore arrivals fall
International visitor arrivals to Singapore fell 3 percent in the first half of this year, hurt by a 30 percent drop in tourists from China, official data showed yesterday. Singapore’s tourism board said overall arrivals totalled 7.5 million in the six months to June, with second quarter numbers dipping by a sharper 6 percent. Travellers from China totalled 871,000 in the first half of the year, almost a third fewer than from the same period last year, the board said. It said that a tourism law implemented by China in October last year which tightened regulations on overseas travel contributed to the decline.
MINING
Rio iron ore production soars
Rio Tinto yesterday said that last quarter’s iron ore production soared to a record high, as criticism mounts that the mining giants’ rising output is adding to a global supply glut and depressing prices. The world’s second-largest mining firm reported a 12 percent year-on-year jump in its third-quarter iron ore production to 76.8 million tonnes. Global iron ore shipments for the quarter also hit new highs, surging 15 percent to 78 million tonnes.
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
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San