Hong Kong banks may start offering yuan promissory notes early next year, making it easier for investors to buy initial public offerings (IPO) denominated in the Chinese currency.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is working on technical support for yuan promissory notes and the instruments are expected to be introduced in mid-February, said an HKMA spokeswoman who declined to be identified.
Investors in Hong Kong may soon have the chance to buy into an IPO denominated in yuan, as the territory grows as an offshore center for trading in the Chinese currency. Billionaire Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠) plans what may be the first such sale early next year, seeking more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) for a real estate investment trust backed by the Oriental Plaza development in Beijing, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
Computershare Hong Kong Investor Services Ltd, a share registry company, is working with “some market partners” on an online system for purchasing yuan-denominated shares, managing director Pamela Chung said in a phone interview yesterday. She didn’t identify the partners.
“Details of the new system will be announced after March 2011,” she said.
The HKMA has expressed concerns to the People’s Bank of China about having only one bank, BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd (中銀香港(控股)), able to clear yuan in Hong Kong, Radio Television Hong Kong reported yesterday.
The HKMA official confirmed the report, which cited the de facto central bank’s deputy chief executive, Arthur Yuen (阮國恒).
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
CRESTING WAVE: Companies are still buying in, but the shivers in the market could be the first signs that the AI wave has peaked and the collapse is upon the world Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported a new monthly record of NT$367.47 billion (US$11.85 billion) in consolidated sales for last month thanks to global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Last month’s figure represented 16.9 percent annual growth, the slowest pace since February last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 11 percent. Cumulative sales in the first 10 months of the year grew 33.8 percent year-on-year to NT$3.13 trillion, a record for the same period in the company’s history. However, the slowing growth in monthly sales last month highlights uncertainty over the sustainability of the AI boom even as
AI BOOST: Next year, the cloud and networking product business is expected to remain a key revenue pillar for the company, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu said Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted its best third-quarter profit in the company’s history, backed by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Net profit expanded 17 percent annually to NT$57.67 billion (US$1.86 billion) from NT$44.36 billion, the company said. On a quarterly basis, net profit soared 30 percent from NT$44.36 billion, it said. Hon Hai, which is Apple Inc’s primary iPhone assembler and makes servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, said earnings per share expanded to NT$4.15 from NT$3.55 a year earlier and NT$3.19 in the second quarter. Gross margin improved to 6.35 percent,
FAULTs BELOW: Asia is particularly susceptible to anything unfortunate happening to the AI industry, with tech companies hugely responsible for its market strength The sudden slump in Asia’s technology shares last week has jolted investors, serving as a stark reminder that the world-beating rally in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor stocks might be nearing a short-term crest. The region’s sharpest decline since April — triggered by a tech-led sell-off on Wall Street — has refocused attention on cracks beneath the surface: the rally’s narrow breadth, heavy reliance on retail traders, and growing uncertainty around the timing of US Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. Last week’s “sell-off is a reminder that Asia’s market structure is just more vulnerable,” Saxo Markets chief investment strategist Charu Chanana said in
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