Profit-taking sends TAIEX down
Taiwanese share prices closed down 0.23 percent yesterday as rotational buying in old economy stocks offset pressure on large-cap technology and financial shares, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 15.49 points to close at 6,649.91 on turnover of NT$104.39 billion (US$3.17 billion).
The market opened up 0.38 percent but profit-taking on electronics and financial stocks immediately set in, dealers said.
Late buying in traditional industrial and China-concept shares lent some support to the market, they said.
“The market remained in a consolidation mode after a recent strong showing,” President Securities (統一證券) analyst Steven Huang said.
Huang said trading was likely to remain slow, with resistance at the 6,500-point level.
Huang said that many investors remained on the sidelines, closely watching how Wall Street would move after slipping last week.
Compal to ship Android phones
Compal Communications Inc (華寶通訊), a Taiwanese maker of mobile phones, said it planned to ship its first handset based on Google Inc’s Android operating system before the end of this year.
The mobile phone manufacturer is developing the handsets for “several customers,” Denis Ko (柯典明), spokesman for Taipei-based Compal Communications, said by telephone yesterday.
The handset maker plans to enter the market for Android phones as HTC Corp (宏達電), Acer Inc (宏碁) and Samsung Electronics Co look to the operating system as an alternative to Microsoft Corp’s Windows and Apple Inc’s iPhone.
Global shipments of Internet-capable smartphones jumped 22 percent last year, double the pace of personal computers, market researcher IDC said.
The handset maker shipped 4.3 million phones in the first quarter and 4.7 million in the second quarter, Ko said, adding that shipments in the third quarter would likely remain in the same range.
HTC posts stable Q1 profits
HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s first maker of handsets running on Google Inc’s Android platform, yesterday reported second-quarter net earnings of NT$6.49 billion (US$196.1 million).
Although they represented an increase of 24.9 percent from the first quarter, they were down almost 2 percent from the same period last year.
However, first-half profit did not fare so well as earnings dropped 16.2 percent from last year’s NT$13.56 billion.
Second-quarter sales were boosted by the introduction of new smartphone models to reach NT$38.20 billion, up 17.3 percent quarter-on-quarter and 10.4 percent year-on-year.
Sales last month alone rose 20.9 percent year-on-year to NT$14.31 billion.
Bids for urban renewal planned
The Taiwanese government will invite companies to invest in urban renewal projects to stimulate the property market, said Lin Chi-hao (林其浩), an official at the Construction and Planning Agency.
The government said the projects could result in more than NT$74 billion (US$2.3 billion) in private investments, Lin said by telephone yesterday.
The agency will hold meetings for interested companies next month and in October.
Powerchip bond terms settled
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶) said yesterday investors had agreed to its terms to reset the conversion price for 96.5 percent of its US$158 million convertible bonds, the company said in a stock exchange filing.
PROTECTIONISM: China hopes to help domestic chipmakers gain more market share while preparing local tech companies for the possibility of more US sanctions Beijing is stepping up pressure on Chinese companies to buy locally produced artificial intelligence (AI) chips instead of Nvidia Corp products, part of the nation’s effort to expand its semiconductor industry and counter US sanctions. Chinese regulators have been discouraging companies from purchasing Nvidia’s H20 chips, which are used to develop and run AI models, sources familiar with the matter said. The policy has taken the form of guidance rather than an outright ban, as Beijing wants to avoid handicapping its own AI start-ups and escalating tensions with the US, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
CHEMICAL FIRE: 10 Indian employees were injured by smoke inhalation at a Tata Electronics plant in Tamil Nadu state that produces components for Apple Inc At least 10 people received medical treatment, with two hospitalized after a major fire on Saturday disrupted production at a key Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd plant in southern India that makes Apple Inc’s iPhone components. The fire occurred at the plant in the city of Hosur in Tamil Nadu state that makes some iPhone components. It broke out near another building inside the Tata complex, which was to begin producing complete iPhones in the coming months. The fire was contained to one building and has been extinguished fully, top district administrative official K.M. Sarayu said. No decision has been made on when
RSS