Asian stocks retreated on Friday as investors awaited US jobs data to gauge whether the economy is strong enough to withstand the first US Federal Reserve interest-rate increase in almost a decade.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd dropped 7.8 percent in Tokyo after the tire maker lowered its forecast for full-year operating profit. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd slumped 14 percent in Mumbai, the most since March 2004, after receiving a warning letter from the US Food & Drug Administration over manufacturing facilities making pharmaceutical ingredients and oncology products. Asciano Ltd jumped 8.1 percent in Sydney after Brookfield Infrastructure Partners bought a stake in the Australian rail and port operator and agreed to buy more shares to fend off a challenge to its proposed acquisition.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.1 percent to 134.62 at 4:08pm Hong Kong time, paring its weekly rise to 0.1 percent.
Economists expected the US jobs report on Friday to show an increase of 185,000 non-farm workers, compared with a gain of 142,000 the previous month. Federal Reserve officials underlined this week that the central bank is still data dependent. The prospect of higher US borrowing costs this year has muddied the rally in global stocks from last quarter’s selloff, with central banks in Japan and the eurozone remaining coy over whether they will bolster stimulus.
“The market is on tenterhooks ahead of the US non-farm payrolls,” Melbourne-based IG Markets Ltd analyst Angus Nicholson said by telephone. “US data has been somewhat mixed, but the market has been responding more strongly to the Fed statements this week that they could hike rates this year.”
The TAIEX fell the most in six weeks after disappointing earnings from Acer Inc (宏碁) quelled a rally that drove the benchmark index to the cusp of a bull market.
The TAIEX slid 1.8 percent to 8,693.57 at the close, the steepest loss since Sept. 23. Acer tumbled 6 percent after posting an operating loss in the third quarter. Liquid crystal display maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) sank 3.8 percent after last month’s sales fell. The stock gauge has rebounded 17 percent from this year’s low on Aug. 24.
“Some industries are in bad shape,” said Michael On, president at Beyond Asset Management Co. in Taipei. “Investors are worried about the economic outlook next year.
The TAIEX’s 14-day relative strength index, measuring how rapidly prices have advanced or dropped during a specified time period, rose to 67.9 this week, near the 70 threshold indicating stocks may fall. The gauge is valued at 12.7 times its 12-month projected earnings, lower than the five-year average of the multiple of 13.6, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.8 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI lost 0.4 percent. New Zealand’s S&P NZX 50 Index fell 0.1 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index decreased 0.4 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.4 percent. Japan’s TOPIX added 0.6 percent, capping a third weekly gain, as a weaker yen boosted exporters.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.9 percent as shares of brokerages, technology and consumer companies rallied after the benchmark index entered a bull market.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six