Asian stocks were poised for the biggest weekly advance in five months as mainland buyers drove a rally in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite Index closed above 4,000 for the first time since 2008.
China International Marine Containers (Group) Co jumped 15 percent in Hong Kong to lead gains around the region.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index added 0.3 percent to 152.24 as of 4:34pm in Hong Kong, extending a more than six-year high. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, also called the H-share index, surged 10 percent in the holiday-shortened week after valuation discounts to mainland shares reached the widest since 2011 and regulators made it easier for Chinese funds to use the cross-border bourse connect.
South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 1.4 percent.
The TAIEX added 0.52 percent, or 49.66 points, to 9,617.70 on Friday from the previous day. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) rose 2.8 percent to NT$147.0 while smartphone maker HTC fell 1.11 percent to NT$133.5.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.6 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.2 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 0.2 percent at the close, erasing gains of as much as 0.3 percent after briefly touching 20,000 for the first time in 15 years. The TOPIX lost 0.3 percent.
In other markets on Friday, Wellington was flat, nudging up 0.19 points to 5,847.35. Manila added 0.93 percent, or 74.79 points, to 8,127.48. In Mumbai, the S&P BSE SENSEX, which closed little changed at 28,879.38. The gauge climbed 2.2 percent this week.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the