Taiwan’s stock market moved higher yesterday, buoyed by support from foreign institutional investors for large-cap stocks.
The market opened slightly lower at 9,228.66 and drifted to the day’s low of 9,224.45 before surging and closing up 53.57 points, or 0.58 percent, at the day’s high of 9,287.77. Turnover was NT$60.635 billion (US$1.934 billion).
Apart from textile and construction shares, which slipped slightly, most other stock categories were higher.
The benchmark electronics sub-index was up 0.59 percent, led by smartphone camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光), which gained 1.82 percent to close at NT$3,910.
The most heavily weighted stock on the market, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), rose 0.54 percent to close at NT187, while IC design company MediaTek (聯發科) ended up 0.83 percent at NT$243.
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科) closed 1.39 percent higher at NT$40 on rising DRAM prices.
Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting (元大投顧) analyst Shawn Hsueh (薛舜日) said money has returned to emerging markets since the US Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged at a policymaking meeting last month, and Taiwan has been one of the favorite targets because of its relatively high dividend yields.
Hsueh said that foreign institutional investors traditionally send money home in August and September, but this year there have been net inflows for four consecutive months since June.
The next key event to pay attention to was when listed companies unveil their third-quarter results from Nov. 15, he said.
Although foreign institutional investors still have a favorable view of Taiwan’s stock market, investors should be wary of possible foreign-exchange losses by local exporters because of the New Taiwan dollar’s 2.9 percent appreciation against the US dollar in the third quarter, which could affect share prices, he said.
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