Electronics send TAIEX tumbling
Taiwan’s benchmark index fell 0.73 percent yesterday, with heavy losses for electronics sector heavyweights amid investors’ concerns about a looming global recession.
The TAIEX closed down 56.83 points to end at 7,741.76 on turnover of NT$110.116 billion (US$3.80 billion).
The broader market decline was triggered by the trading deadline for Taiwan stock index futures, which falls on the third Wednesday of every month.
It accelerated when Taiwan’s weighting was dropped in both the MSCI Emerging Markets Free Index and MSCI Asia Pacific Index in Morgan Stanley Capital International’s latest review.
A total of 1,605 stocks closed up and 2,723 were down, with 493 remaining unchanged.
NT$30bn in bonds sold
The government sold NT$30 billion in 30-year bonds at a yield of 1.99 percent at an auction yesterday, the central bank said in a conference call.
The yield compared with the 1.992 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of six finance companies. The government last sold 30-year debt in May at a yield of 1.889 percent. That offer had a bid-to-cover ratio of 1.8 times.
High-tech exports rules relaxed
The government has relaxed restrictions against the export of strategic high-tech commodities, including photomasks used in the semiconductor manufacturing sector, tool machines, IC and data protection devices, officials from the Bureau of Foreign Trade said on Tuesday.
Under an amendment to the regulations governing management of strategic high-tech commodity exports and imports, the export of sensitive high-tech products to member countries of four international export control organizations will be relaxed from “one export within six months only” to “more than one within two years.”
Currently, there are 30 countries affiliated with the four export control organizations — the Nuclear Supplier Group, the Wassenaar Agreement, the Missile Technology Control Regime and the Australia Group.
Bureau officials said the amendment does not apply to countries that are listed as high risks in export of strategic high-tech products. These include China, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan.
TransAsia hires SE Asia head
TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空), one of the nation’s international air carriers, announced yesterday it had hired Andrew Stephen, former Qatar Airways president in Singapore, as its president in Southeast Asia.
Stephen will lead the air carrier to expand the intra-Asian air networks by developing more routes in China and Southeast Asia, the company said in a statement.
Stephen has served in the airlines sector for more than 30 years. Before working at Qatar Airways, he served as United Airlines president in Hong Kong, TransAsia Airways said.
Tudou raises US$174m in IPO
Tudou Holdings Ltd (土豆網), China’s second-biggest video Web site, raised US$174 million on Tuesday in its US initial public offering (IPO), a person with knowledge of the matter said.
The Shanghai-based company sold 6 million American Depositary Receipts (ADR) at US$29 apiece, the person said. Tudou had offered the ADRs for US$28 to US$30 each, according to a regulatory filing. They were to start trading yesterday on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol “TUDO.”
NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US currency yesterday, down NT$0.014 to close at NT$28.962.
Turnover totaled US$823 million during the trading session.
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
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