TAIEX up 1.86 percent
Taiwanese shares closed 1.86 percent higher yesterday as the country's currency continued to strengthen and Wall Street rose overnight, dealers said.
Some investors said a liquidity-driven upswing is likely to continue in the run-up to the March 22 presidential election, they said.
The weighted index closed up 154.41 points at the day's high of 8,462.08, off a low of 8,362.94, on turnover of NT$177.10 billion (US$5.67 billion).
Risers led decliners 1,410 to 582, with 354 stocks unchanged. A total of 47 stocks closed limit-up and 17 were limit-down.
The Taipei bourse has gained 10.27 percent since it resumed trading on Feb. 12 after the Lunar New Year holiday.
BMW cuts more jobs
Luxury car maker BMW AG said yesterday it will cut another 5,600 jobs by the end of this year, on top of 2,500 other positions that have already been eliminated, as it moves to pare expenses amid a wider cost-cutting program.
Speaking to reporters in Munich, Germany, where the company is based, BMW head of personnel Ernst Baumann said that the jobs being cut included 2,500 full-time workers and 2,500 temporary workers, along with 600 other positions in Germany and elsewhere.
He said that another 2,500 positions had already been eliminated, bringing the total number of cuts and planned cuts to 8,100.
In Germany, BMW has between 6,000 and 8,000 temporary workers. Worldwide, BMW employs just under 108,000 workers, company figures showed.
HP, Foxconn in Russia
Hewlett-Packard Co and Foxconn International Holdings (富士康) agreed with Eurasia Logistics, a Russian developer and operator of logistic centers, to build a US$50 million computer assembly plant near St. Petersburg.
Foxconn, the world's largest maker of handsets, bought a 12 hectare plot in the Kolpino industrial park in the Leningrad region, Eurasia Logistics said late yesterday in a statement on its Web site.
The plant is scheduled to open early next year and will make Hewlett-Packard personal computers, the statement said.
FET expects drop in profits
Far Eastone Telecommunications Co (FET, 遠傳電信), the nation's third-largest telephone company, forecast profit before tax would fall 8 percent in the current quarter from the previous three-month period as expenses climbed and investment income dropped.
Pretax profit in the first quarter will fall to NT$3 billion from NT$3.26 billion in the three months ended on Dec. 31, Taipei-based Far Eastone said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. Sales could rise 4.3 percent to NT$12.74 billion.
Operating expenses will rise almost 9 percent to NT$3.44 billion, and investment gains from selling assets will fall 75 percent to NT$45.4 million, the company said.
This would be the second straight decline in quarter-on-quarter pretax profit for the company.
MOEA pushes biotech sector
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday it aimed to promote the nation's biotechnology development through its cooperation with the private sector.
"The MOEA has invited some 20 companies to form a service platform, in a bid to integrate the various sources that is essential to the development of the biotech industry," James Chen (陳韋呈), manager of the ministry's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries program, said at a press briefing.
The majority of Taiwan's biotechnology firms are of small and medium-sized, which has led to a lack of professionals in the fields of legal issues, patents, marketing and technology management.
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy hinges on microchips, but the semiconductor sector that produces them has a dirty secret: It is a major source of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. Global chip sales surged more than 19 percent to about US$628 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which forecasts double-digit growth again this year. That is adding urgency to reducing the effects of “forever chemicals” — which are also used to make firefighting foam, nonstick pans, raincoats and other everyday items — as are regulators in the US and Europe who are beginning to
RSS