Stocks rose on the last day of the year yesterday, leaving the TAIEX 32 percent higher over the year.
Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
The TAIEX added 23.94, or 0.4 percent, to 5,890.69. Three stocks rose for every two that fell. The Taiwan futures index added 0.2 percent to 5,903.
Looking back at 2003, the TAIEX rose 1,438 points, or 32.3 percent, since the last trading day of the previous year. On Dec. 31 last year it closed at 4,452.45. The rise marked the best performance for the index since 1996, when it gained 34 percent.
A positive economic outlook and stronger demand are expected to boost Taiwan share prices in 2004 once the dust settles from the March presidential elections, analysts predict.
The benchmark index is seen reaching 7,000 points after a volatile year in which SARS, the Iraq war and heightened tensions with Beijing drove it to a low of 4,139.50 points in April.
Authorities have projected Taiwan's economy will grow 4.1 percent this year amid brisk exports and domestic business activities, up from an estimated 3.15 percent for 2003.
Bullish sentiment and strong foreign buying pushed the index to a 17-month high of 6,142.32 in November, but jitters over growing tensions with Beijing after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) unveiled his plans for a controversial referendum later pushed the market into a consolidation phase.
"Strains on cross-strait relations will continue to exert pressure on the stock market before the elections as all politically sensitive issues will be raised during the campaign," said Bentham Hung, a fund manager of Fuh-Hwa Securities Investment and Trust (復華投信).
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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