INVESTMENT
Warning over new rules
Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust Co (復華投信) fund manager Wang Po-chi (王博祺) yesterday said retail investors should be cautious about the potential volatility of shares, as stocks listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and small-cap-dominated Taipei Exchange will from today be allowed to move within a 10 percent range from the previous closing price. The government hopes the move would boost the image of Taiwan as an internationalized market, while improving local market liquidity and boost trading. Wang said investors should refrain from over-leveraging their trades to avoid being forced to sell stocks.
REAL ESTATE
Transactions drop 12 percent
Transactions of residential and commercial property fell about 12 percent from May 1 to Tuesday last week compared with a month earlier on slow seasonal effects, according to statistics compiled by Sinyi Realty Inc (信義房屋), the nation’s only listed property broker. Transactions of homes, shops and offices in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taichung fell about 10 percent from a month earlier during the 26-day period, while transactions in Kaohsiung rose 2 percent month-on-month.
APPLIANCES
First-quarter growth minimal
The nation’s technical consumer goods market saw sales grow 0.6 percent year-on-year to NT$54 billion (US$1.75 billion) in the first quarter, market researcher GfK Group said in a report released on Wednesday last week. Sales increases in telecommunications, small domestic appliances and major domestic appliances in the first quarter were offset by the sales declines in information technology, photography and consumer electronics, the report said.
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
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
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure