European stock exchanges closed generally weaker on Friday although the London FTSE 100 index gained 0.10 percent to finish at 6,190 points in a shortened pre-holiday session.
In Paris the CAC 40 fell 1.02 percent to finish at 5,453.94 while in Frankfurt the Dax shed 1.08 percent to close at 6,503.13.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares fell 0.94 percent to 4073.50.
In London cruise group Carnival added 2.48 percent to close at ?25.99 on positive financial results.
Mobile phone giant Vodafone fell 1.22 percent to ?1.42 after confirming that it would bid for the two-thirds stake in Hutchison Essor of India held by the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, an acquisition that could cost it US$10 billion.
In Paris, where profit-taking took a toll, aerospace group EADS fell 0.08 percent to 25.7 euros, while stock market operator Euronext shed 1.11 percent to close at 89.25 euros.
Engineering giant Alstom jumped 1.41 percent to 100.80 euros despite denying a report that it had won a 3.6-billion-euro order from China for 1,500 freight locomotives.
In Frankfurt Deutsche Bank lost 1.09 percent to finish at 100.29 euros after announcing on Thursday that it had agreed to a US$208 million settlement following a probe into improper trading in its mutual funds.
Elsewhere there were declines of 0.60 percent to 14,066.1 on the Ibex-35 in Madrid, 1.04 percent to 40,841 on the SP/Mib in Milan, 0.78 percent to 490.77 on the AEX in Amsterdam and 0.56 percent to 8,726.67 on the Swiss Market Index.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has secured three construction permits for its plan to build a state-of-the-art A14 wafer fab in Taichung, and is likely to start construction soon, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, Wang Chun-chieh (王俊傑), deputy director general of the science park bureau, said the world’s largest contract chipmaker has received three construction permits — one to build a fab to roll out sophisticated chips, another to build a central utility plant to provide water and electricity for the facility and the other to build three office buildings. With the three permits, TSMC
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
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