TAIEX rises 1.9 percent
Share prices closed higher yesterday, with the TAIEX surging 141.65 points, or 1.9 percent, to close at 7,577.75
The bourse opened at 7,492.84 and fluctuated between a high of 7,620.56 and a low of 7,451.09. Market turnover totaled NT$103.27 billion (US$3.22 billion).
All eight major stock categories gained ground. Construction shares gained 3.6 percent, the most of any category, followed by foodstuff issues, which rose 3.5 percent.
Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors bought a net NT$7 billion in shares.
Fubon eyes China leasing deal
Fubon Financial (富邦金) said yesterday it would set up a leasing company in China, in the first cross-strait corporate deal since Beijing and Taipei signed three financial agreements last year.
Fubon, the nation’s second-largest financial holding company, said it would join CITIC Group of China (中國中信), a major conglomerate, to form a 500 million yuan (US$73 million) leasing company in Beijing.
“Leasing business on the mainland is booming. We see great potential,” a spokeswoman said.
She said Fubon would take a 25 percent stake in the joint venture and CITIC would take 51 percent, while the rest would be held by other Chinese entities.
The joint venture is the first to be announced under the cross-strait financial memorandums of understanding signed in November.
Fubon Financial would invest 125 million yuan in the new company through its Fubon Venture Capital (富邦創投) unit, while CITIC would take its part through CITIC Asset Management (中信資產), the spokeswoman said.
Senao mulls China options
Senao International Co (神腦國際) is considering options for expansion in China and has yet to make a decision, the Taipei-based maker and distributor of communications electronics said in an exchange filing yesterday.
Senao plans a private placement of NT$10 billion to fund the purchase of a stake in Funtalk China Holdings Ltd (樂語中國), the Taipei-based, Chinese-languange Commercial Times reported yesterday, citing company chairman John Hsueh (薛紀建).
Bond sales should rise: S&P’s
Corporate bond sales will rise to pre-financial crisis levels as investors seek stable returns amid low interest rates, Standard & Poor’s said in a report yesterday.
“We expect Taiwan-based institutions to take advantage of the prevailing low interest rate to fund” themselves this year, S&P credit analysts said.
Taiwanese companies raised NT$173 billion from NT dollar bond sales last year, 35 percent less than the NT$265 billion they raised in 2008, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Firms have sold NT$20.1 billion of notes this year, the data show.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar rose for a second day yesterday on expectations that investors would buy local assets as an economic recovery gathers pace.
“The Taiwan dollar should be up because the economy is stronger” than major economies, said George Pu, a fixed-income trader at President Securities Corp (統一證券) in Taipei.
The currency appreciated 0.1 percent to NT$32.048 against its US counterpart as of the 4pm close, compared with NT$32.085 late last week, Taipei Forex Inc said. The currency touched NT$32.012, the strongest level since Feb. 24.
The NT dollar, which has lost 0.1 percent this year, may trade between NT$31.50 and NT$32.50 this year “because the government doesn’t want the Taiwan dollar to be too volatile,” Pu said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
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