TAIEX down 1.66 percent
Taiwanese shares dropped 1.66 percent yesterday to their lowest close in more than two months after Wall Street fell overnight over worries about the financial sector, dealers said.
The weighted index lost 145.04 points to close at 8,579.43 after moving between 8,558.46 and 8,693.48. Turnover was NT$98.37 billion (US$3.24 billion).
The previous closing low was 8,419.72 posted on April 1.
Decliners led risers 1,858 to 545, with 297 stocks unchanged.
Although foreign investors continued buying, a lack of local interest had dragged down the bourse, said Alan Tseng (曾炎裕), a research vice president of Capital Securities Corp (群益證券).
Cathay unveils new credit card
Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) launched its first Phoenix titanium credit card yesterday, targeting women cardholders with an interest in free Coach VIP membership, travel and shopping benefits as well as cash rebates.
“We plan to un-wrong our past card-issuance patterns and make the Phoenix card truly prestigious for only 100,000 or so high-income women cardholders in the next two to three years,” bank vice chairman Roger Lee (李明賢) said, adding that the nation’s female cardholders’ spending power had outperformed that of male cardholders.
The titanium card will begin to charge an annual fee of NT$1,800 in the second year unless cardholders spend more than NT$120,000 a year with their cards.
The bank is the nation’s second largest card issuer with 3.4 million cardholders, 60 percent of whom are women cardholders.
CPC to resume supply
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) intends to resume full petrochemical supply to customers in three days at the earliest after cutting output because of lower water quality at two processing units.
CPC has been supplying only 85 percent of the contracted amount of ethylene, propylene and butadiene since last Tuesday, company vice president Chu Shao-hua (朱少華) said by telephone yesterday. Water quality at the two naphtha crackers in southern Taiwan improved after rains this week, he said.
“We’re preparing to get back to normal because the reason for the reduced supply is gone,” Chu said.
Taipower sells bonds
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), the nation’s biggest electricity producer, sold NT$8 billion in bonds to help fund new generators and grid upgrades.
The state-run utility sold NT$2.4 billion of three-year notes, NT$3.4 billion of five-year debt and NT$2.2 billion of seven-year bonds, Clint Chou (周義岳), a company spokesman, said by telephone yesterday.
“Demand is still there” for more bond sales, Chou said. The latest issue brought this year’s total so far to NT$31 billion, he said. The company looks to sell as much as NT$80 billion in bonds this year.
Taipower is also selling bonds to raise funds as surging fuel costs reduce earnings. The company may post a loss of NT$100 billion this year, widening from last year’s NT$31.2 billion, Chou said.
NT down against greenback
The NT dollar weakened yesterday as the central bank bought US dollars to curb the local currency’s recent gains, while foreign investors followed suit as local stocks tanked.
The NT dollar closed NT$0.071 lower at NT$30.290 against the greenback. The local unit closed at NT$30.219 on Monday, its strongest close since March 27.
Turnover was US$1.216 billion on the Taipei Forex Inc, lower than US$1.532 billion the previous day.
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS