Large traders held back from local equities last year due to volatility on global stock markets, although listed firms on the main bourse saw their combined revenue rise 7.33 percent for the whole of last year and the average daily turnover expanded 24.16 percent to NT$130.21 billion (US$4.23 million), according to data released by the Financial Supervisory Commission and the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Large traders are defined as those who trade shares at or higher than NT$500 million in a quarter, Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling (蔡麗玲) told a news conference on Thursday.
The number of large traders fell to 1,137 in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with 1,507 in the third quarter and a record level of 1,579 in the second quarter, the data showed.
A quarterly drop of 370 large traders marked not only the highest quarterly fall since the 552 recorded in the second quarter of 2012, but also reflected the impact of negative factors such as a more than 10 percent decline in the TAIEX in October, volatile US equity markets and concerns over the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes, Tsai told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday.
While the number of large traders was on the decline, it still remained more than 1,000 for the sixth consecutive quarter as the listed firms’ fundamentals remained sound, Tsai said.
Aggregate revenue at the 928 firms listed on the main bourse totaled NT$32.78 trillion last year, up NT$2.24 trillion from 2017, with 608 firms’ revenue rising and 320 falling, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) retained its title as the nation’s largest listed firm in terms of annual revenue with NT$5.29 trillion, up 12.5 percent from a year earlier and a new record.
Pegatron Corp (和碩) was in second place, generating NT$1.34 trillion in revenue, up 12.3 percent from 2017, ahead of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), whose revenue hit NT$1.03 trillion, up 5.5 percent, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) came in fourth, with revenue edging up 0.6 percent to NT$1.02 billion, ahead of Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) with NT$967.68 billion, up 9 percent year-on-year.
Most sectors reported positive revenue growth last year, while three — optoelectronics, communications and the Internet, and automobiles — reported declines of 8.36 percent, 5.53 percent and 1 percent respectively, the data showed.
The best-performing sectors were building materials and construction, cement, and oil and gas, with revenue increases of 29.37 percent, 26.01 percent and 22.67 percent respectively.
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) received about NT$147 billion (US$4.71 billion) in subsidies from the US, Japanese, German and Chinese governments over the past two years for its global expansion. Financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed the company secured NT$4.77 billion in subsidies from the governments in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first three quarters of the year to about NT$71.9 billion. Along with the NT$75.16 billion in financial aid TSMC received last year, the chipmaker obtained NT$147 billion in subsidies in almost two years, the data showed. The subsidies received by its subsidiaries —
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) and the company’s former chairman, Mark Liu (劉德音), both received the Robert N. Noyce Award -- the semiconductor industry’s highest honor -- in San Jose, California, on Thursday (local time). Speaking at the award event, Liu, who retired last year, expressed gratitude to his wife, his dissertation advisor at the University of California, Berkeley, his supervisors at AT&T Bell Laboratories -- where he worked on optical fiber communication systems before joining TSMC, TSMC partners, and industry colleagues. Liu said that working alongside TSMC
RSS