TAIEX hits six-month high
The TAIEX closed above the 7,800-points mark for the first time in nearly six months on ample liquidity and institutional buying, dealers said.
With concerns over the eurozone’s debt problems easing to some extent, buying rotated to large cap electronics stocks, in particular to companies in the Apple supply chain, after shares of the US consumer electronics giant hit a record high overnight, they said.
The TAIEX closed up 162.47 points, or 2.11 percent, at the day’s high of 7,869.91, off an early low of 7,766.38, on turnover of NT$160.32 billion (US$5.43 billion).
Fubon is back in black
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the nation’s second-largest financial services provider, yesterday posted NT$2.2 billion (US$74.6 million) in net profit last month, reversing a net loss of NT$1.69 billion in December, according to a stock exchange filing.
The latest figures translated into NT$0.24 earnings per share and marked a retreat of 23.4 percent from the same period last year due to weaker earnings at its insurance and securities arms, company data showed.
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) reported NT$250 million in net income last month, down from NT$652 million a year earlier, while net profit at Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) fell from NT$330 million to NT$80 million.
Ministry adjusts power prices
The government has increased preferential power prices for biomass projects by as much as 24 percent and cut rates paid for wind and solar facilities.
Wholesale prices for biomass electricity sold to state-run Taiwan Power Co (台電) rose to as much as NT$2.70 a kilowatt-hour, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday. Prices for wind farms with a capacity of more than 10 kilowatts fell by NT$0.02 a kilowatt-hour to NT$2.6 a kilowatt-hour.
The government also cut solar wholesale rates for contracts this year by as much as 8.3 percent, to NT$9.46 a kilowatt-hour, for projects installed on rooftops and completed by June and NT$6.9 a kilowatt-hour for ground plants. After June, the rates will fall by as much as 10.3 percent from last year.
Taipei to host big panel show
The world’s largest flat panel display exhibition will be held in Taipei in late June, the organizers said yesterday.
Display Taiwan, now in its 14th year, will focus on touch panel technology and active-matrix organic LED, a display technology for use in mobile devices and televisions, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said.
The three-day event from June 19 to June 21 is expected to attract 240 exhibitors and 45,000 visitors from 80 countries, TAITRA said.
Senao plans 1,000 outlets
Senao International Co (神腦國際), a distributor of mobile phones, related accessories and communications devices, hopes to expand the number of its retail outlets in China to 1,000 within three years.
Senao chairman Paul Lin (林保雍) said the company planned to open at least 200 new shops in China this year, with Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai the main targets.
The company also expects to add more than 60 new digital shops in Taiwan this year, which will require an additional 1,000 staff, Lin said. Senao currently has a workforce of 2,500 in Taiwan.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, rising NT$0.04 to close at NT$29.530.
Turnover totaled US$852 million during the trading session.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
SUPPORT: The government said it would help firms deal with supply disruptions, after Trump signed orders imposing tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico The government pledged to help companies with operations in Mexico, such as iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), shift production lines and investment if needed to deal with higher US tariffs. The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday announced measures to help local firms cope with the US tariff increases on Canada, Mexico, China and other potential areas. The ministry said that it would establish an investment and trade service center in the US to help Taiwanese firms assess the investment environment in different US states, plan supply chain relocation strategies and
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such