European stocks ended mixed on Friday, with French and Dutch markets cautious before EU referendums and UK markets toying with a key psychological barrier ahead of a holiday weekend.
The German DAX 30 index finished up 0.2 percent at 4,444.7, the French CAC 40 index lost 0.1 percent to 4,131.8 and the Dutch AEX index dropped 0.4 percent at 366.6. London's FTSE 100 index lost 0.2 percent at 4,986.3.
"We think that the [global] economic cycle is fairly much intact," said Richard Batty, global investment strategist at Standard Life Investments.
The euro added 0.5 percent to trade at US$1.2568 ahead of France's EU constitution referendum today. Dutch voters go to the polls on the constitution on June 1.
The technology sector lent support following gains in US technology stocks overnight that sent the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 1.9 percent.
Shares in New York Stock Exchange specialist firm Van der Moolen Holding ended up about 6 percent in Amsterdam after the company agreed to buy Curvalue Financial Services Group.
London markets were focusing on the banking sector, after Barclays said Thursday it's expecting higher bad-debt provisions this year and HSBC updated the market on Friday.
HSBC Holdings PLC shares slipped 0.2 percent after it said recent rises in UK interest rates and a slowing residential property market are affecting consumer confidence and levels of bad debt.
Irish telecom Eircom Group PLC dropped 3.7 percent after swinging to a pretax loss of 89 million euros (US$111 million) in fiscal 2005 from a profit of 52 million euros the previous year.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process