TAIEX closes mostly flat
The TAIEX closed little changed yesterday as rotational buying in the financial sector offset the losses suffered by bellwether electronic stocks, which have been pressured by a rising New Taiwan dollar, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 4.41 points or 0.05 percent to 8,866.35, after moving between 8,844.67 and 8,893.14, on turnover of NT$145.09 billion (US$4.90 billion).
The market opened up 0.08 percent and moved to the day’s high before selling in the high-tech sector set in to weigh on the movement, the dealers said.
However, interest in the financial sector emerged during the trading session, helping the broader market fend off the gloomy mood about the harm done by a stronger local currency to Taiwan’s global competitiveness, they said.
A total of 2,914 stocks closed down, while 1,453 finished up and 298 remained unchanged.
More subsidies for e-scooters
The government is extending subsidies for the purchase of electric scooters by one year to 2013 from 2012, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
The handouts remain at NT$11,000 each for light models and NT$8,000 for compact ones, according to the statement.
Books.com sales up 30 percent
Books.com (博客來), one of Taiwan’s leading online booksellers, said yesterday its sales of book titles grew 30 percent to more than 11.3 million this year.
Titles that sold more than 10,000 books also expanded by 10 percent, according to a company statement.
The retailer has had a long partnership with 7-Eleven, allowing consumers to browse and click their purchases on the Internet and get their books at the convenience store of their choice.
Books.com said moving forward, it would launch mobile application for smartphone users to place orders, and provide buyers with a speedy 16-hour delivery service.
Tung Ho sells building
Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp (東和鋼鐵) sold a building and land in Taoyuan for NT$1.51 billion, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Mospec plans share sale
Mospec Semiconductor Corp (統懋半導體) plans to raise as much as NT$224.3 million selling up to 15 million new shares at NT$14.95 each in a private placement to help replenish working capital, fund equipment purchase and repay debt, the Tainan-based company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Morgan Stanley sale approved
Applications for the sale of three Morgan Stanley investment funds in Taiwan have been approved by the Financial Supervisory Commission, Cathay Securities Investment Consulting (國泰投顧) said yesterday.
Cathay serves as the master agent for the three funds and is gearing up for their launch in the domestic market soon.
The three newly approved investment funds are Morgan Stanley Global Brands Fund, Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Debt Fund and Morgan Stanley Asian Equity Fund, according to the master agent.
NT dollar keeps rising
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, gaining NT$0.029 to close at NT$30.367 after hitting a high of NT$29.375.
In late trade, the central bank stepped in again to boost the value of the US dollar to above NT$30, dealers said.
Turnover totaled US$875 million during the trading session.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
Artificial intelligence (AI) giant Nvidia Corp’s most advanced chips would be reserved for US companies and kept out of China and other countries, US President Donald Trump said. During an interview that aired on Sunday on CBS’ 60 Minutes program and in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said only US customers should have access to the top-end Blackwell chips offered by Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. “The most advanced, we will not let anybody have them other than the United States,” he told CBS, echoing remarks made earlier to reporters as he returned to Washington
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