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.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS