Share prices edge higher
The TAIEX edged up 0.28 percent yesterday after profit-taking eroded bigger gains on buying in the electronics sector, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 12.01 points to 4,259.98 on turnover of NT$50.35 billion (US$1.49 billion).
The market opened 0.69 percent higher as investors resumed buying in electronic stocks, in particular semiconductor and flat-panel makers, as the market re-opened after the Lunar New Year holiday, dealers said.
“Trading volumes were thin today as many investors remained sidelined amid lingering concerns over the global economy’s weakness,” Concord Securities (康和證券) analyst Allen Lin said. “Buying in high-tech stocks failed to bring a meaningful boost to the broader market.”
Among memory chip producers, Nanya Technology (南亞科技) rose 6.94 percent to NT$6.01 and Inotera Memories (華亞科技) gained 6.86 percent to NT$10.90.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) added 3.98 percent to NT$41.80, while United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) fell 1.92 percent to NT$7.16.
The financial sector underperformed on fears that the worsening domestic economy would raise the risks of increasing bad loans, dealers said.
Cathay Financial (國泰金控) fell 4.51 percent to NT$30.70 and Fubon Financial (富邦金控) lost 2.97 percent to NT$19.60.
Car sales hit 22-year low
New car sales hit a 22-year low last month, plummeting by nearly 40 percent year-on-year to 21,541 units, because of less business days and the government’s recent implementation of a NT$30,000 (US$889) commodity tax reduction for new car buyers.
Potential car buyers had adopted a wait-and-see approach before the tax cut went into effect on Jan. 19. After the tax cut, 14,431 cars were sold in the five days before the holiday.
Steven Yang (楊湘泉), spokesman for Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which distributes both Toyota and Lexus models, said the nation’s rising unemployment rate and volatile economic climate may affect new car sales for the whole year, which he expects to remain close to last year’s level of between 220,000 and 230,000 units.
THSRC reports record numbers
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) reported more than 1.24 million passengers during the Lunar New Year holiday, a company representative said by telephone yesterday.
This record number was for the period from Jan. 22 through Sunday. On Sunday, the number of passengers reached 100,000 in a single day, the company said.
Typically THSRC calculates its Lunar New Year holiday period from Jan. 22 through yesterday, and without yesterday’s final numbers the company is currently unable to provide comparisons to last year’s figures, it said.
The company added that 308 trains were added this holiday season to facilitate the overwhelming numbers of passengers.
The company celebrated its second year of operations earlier this year, reporting that THSRC has doubled its number of passengers from 1.55 million in 2007 to 3.06 million last year.
China axes shipping taxes
China has axed some taxes on Taiwanese shipping lines to encourage more direct services across the Taiwan Strait as relations between the two sides improve.
The exemption took effect on Dec. 15, a statement posted on China’s Ministry of Finance Web site said yesterday.
NT dollar gains against US$
The New Taiwan dollar gained NT$0.052 yesterday to close at NT$33.749 against the US dollar on turnover of US$509 million.
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A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
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