The nation’s net foreign fund outflow hit US$4.71 billion last month, when the local bourse took a beating because of large foreign institutional sell-offs, the highest net outflow in a single month since August 2011, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) data showed.
FSC Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) attributed the outflow to the repatriation of dividends, rising expectations of a stronger US dollar, surging US bond yields and concern over escalating US-China trade tensions.
Koo made the remarks in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ming-tsai’s (羅明才) asking during a legislative committee meeting if the nation should worry about the surge in foreign fund outflows.
Taiwan’s net outflow of foreign funds was US$10.87 billion as of last month, Koo said, adding that there were only two months of net inflows this year.
Due to the large net outflow last month, the nation’s accumulated net foreign fund inflow declined to US$197.18 billion as of last month, down 2 percent from the end of September, commission data showed.
However, given that the nation has seen a net inflow this month, Koo said he expects foreign funds to continue investing in Taiwanese stocks, as many still offer solid fundamentals and good dividend yields.
Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$298.29 billion of shares on the main board and a net NT$19.08 billion of shares on the over-the-counter market in the past 10 months, the commission said.
Spurred by large foreign institutional selling, the TAIEX fell 10.94 percent last month.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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