Chinese stocks gained, with the benchmark index climbing to its highest level since August 2009, after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) pledged to take action if economic growth slows too much and the benchmark money-market rate fell.
Hundsun Technologies Inc (恒生電子) and Glodon Software Co (廣聯達軟件) surged more than 9 percent as a gauge of technology shares extended its gain this year to 40 percent after Li encouraged the development of e-commerce.
China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) advanced the most in a month in Hong Kong. Huadong Medicine Co (華東醫藥) jumped by the 10 percent daily limit to lead consumer shares higher.
The number of advancing stocks was at a record-high. The seven-day repurchase rate slid the most in five weeks, as funds locked up for new share sales returned to the banking system.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.3 percent to 3,449.31 at the close, extending last week’s 4.1 percent increase.
Li said on Sunday that the government would take additional steps if China’s growth, which the government targeted at 7 percent this year, drifts toward the lower limit of its range and cuts into employment or wages.
About 3 trillion yuan (US$479 billion) was set aside for initial public offerings last week, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of brokerages.
“Li’s positive tone on growth bolstered investor confidence,” said Yen Chiu, a trader at Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co in Hong Kong. “Technology stocks are getting a boost on the economy’s reliance on the sector for growth.”
There were 973 stocks that rose on the Shanghai Composite yesterday, the most since Bloomberg began compiling the data in 1997, while nine fell and 78 were unchanged.
The CSI 300 Index rose 2.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index added 0.9 percent and the Hang Seng Index gained 0.5 percent. The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index slid 0.9 percent in New York on Friday.
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to