MEXICO
Government monitoring oil
The government plans “without a doubt” to protect the country against low crude prices for next year, Deputy Minister of Finance Vanessa Rubio said in an interview, in a continuation of what has become the world’s largest commodities hedging program. The amount of the country’s export basket to be protected through market operations, versus through its stabilization fund, has yet to be determined, Rubio said in an interview on the sidelines of a banking conference in Acapulco. All options are open to reduce volatility of the peso, which is undervalued when economic fundamentals are taken into account, Rubio added.
DRUGMAKERS
China approves cancer drug
AstraZeneca PLC said it had a key lung cancer drug approved in China, opening up a new market for the therapy and allowing the UK’s second-biggest drugmaker to reach thousands of new patients in a country where the disease is surging. The company has permission to start marketing the drug, named Tagrisso, in China, it said in a statement posted on its official WeChat account. As incidence of diseases like cancer and diabetes rise in China, the country is becoming increasingly important to the global pharmaceutical industry. Still, drugmakers face challenges shoring up profits in the nation as Beijing pushes to curb the prices of medicines.
ASSET MANAGEMENT
HNA to buy stake in US firm
Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co (海航集團) has agreed to buy a 25 percent stake in Old Mutual PLC’s US asset management unit for about US$446 million. London-based Old Mutual yesterday said in an e-mailed statement that it will sell down its holdings in OM Asset Management to HNA Group in two tranches. The first — comprising 9.95 percent at US$15.30 per share — is to be completed within 30 days. The second — a 15 percent stake at US$15.75 per share — is to take place in the second half of this year. After the transactions, Old Mutual’s holding of OM Asset Management will drop to about 26 percent from 50.8 percent, it said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Groups urge EU trade deal
Industry bodies representing the UK food supply chain have called on the government to seek a tariff-free trade agreement with the EU during coming Brexit negotiations. In a joint statement yesterday, the British Retail Consortium, the National Farmers Union and the Food and Drink Federation urged Prime Minister Theresa May to also ensure transitional trade agreements with the EU are in place before the nation leaves the bloc. The groups called on the government to seek out their advice before signing new trade agreements. The food supply chain employs 3.9 million people and generates £108 billion (US$135 billion) for the economy annually, the groups said.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan recalling cars in US
Nissan Motor Co is recalling more than 56,000 cars because of power steering hoses that might leak fluid and potentially lead to fires. Nissan North America said the recall affects the 2013 to 2014 Murano vehicles. It said the problem stems from the power steering hose clamp, which might not adequately secure the hose. That could lead to a fire, if it leaks onto a hot engine or exhaust pipes, the company said. Nissan said dealers will install a new power steering high-pressure hose kit, free of charge.
FLAT PANELS
LG leads rankings
Flat-panel maker Innolux Corp (群創) ranked as the world’s second-largest TV screen supplier last month, according to market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技). The company shipped 3.13 million screens, trailing only South Korea’s LG Display Co, whose shipments totaled 3.85 million units, TrendForce said on Thursday last week. China’s BOE Technology Group (京東方) came in third after shipping 2.93 million TV panels last month, the firm said, adding that last month, total TV panel shipments worldwide fell 5.8 percent from a month earlier to 18.71 million units.
STOCK MARKET
TWSE, KRX eye single index
Taiwan and South Korea are planning to compile cross-border indices, which would bring market heavyweights in both nations into a single index, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE). The TWSE and the Korea Exchange (KRX) are also aiming to jointly unveil exchange-traded funds in the third quarter of this year, the TWSE said.
PREDICTIONS
Economic confidence up
Confidence in Taiwan’s economy has improved significantly this month amid signs of a recovery, Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) said on Monday last week. Citing a survey conducted between March 1 and March 7, the firm said that 25.5 percent of respondents believed the local economy would fare better over the next six months, while 37.7 percent said the economic fundamentals would get worse. Meanwhile, 46.9 percent of respondents believed that Taiwan’s growth for this year would top a 1.5 percent increase seen a year earlier, while 5.1 percent said it would grow 2 percent or higher.
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