Large caps lead TAIEX rebound
The TAIEX rebounded 0.57 percent yesterday, backed by gains in large-cap stocks, but volume remained relatively thin, as investors continued to grapple with uncertainties weighing down the local bourse and Europe’s debt crisis.
The benchmark index ranged between a high of 7,220.10 and a low of 7,164.90 before closing up 41.04 points at 7,192.23 on turnover of NT$53.59 billion (US$1.81 billion).
A total of 1,816 stocks closed up, 1,886 finished down and 518 were unchanged.
Seven of the market’s eight major stock categories closed up, with financial shares posting the biggest gains at 0.9 percent. Electronics shares, automobile stocks and energy-saving concept stocks also outperformed the broader market throughout the trading session.
Ministry to help HTC
The Ministry of Economic Affairs “will definitely provide HTC (宏達電) with appropriate assistance,” a top Cabinet official told reporters on the sidelines of a legislative hearing yesterday.
However, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) declined to give details on how and what the ministry would do, saying that since the HTC-Apple legal dispute was ongoing, the government would maintain a low profile, instead of touting what measures can and will be taken.
HTC said on May 16 that its One X and EVO 4G LTE smartphones were barred entry to the US by customs officials following an exclusion order filed by the US International Trade Commission.
HTC said on Sunday that some of its smartphones had passed inspections and had been released to its carrier customers.
Evergreen to launch new route
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the nation’s largest container shipping firm in terms of fleet scale, yesterday announced it would launch a new route between south India and the Persian Gulf on June 5.
Two 2,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) vessels will be deployed in the service, the company said in a statement.
The service will depart and arrive in the same city — India’s Cochin — followed by two stopovers in Sri Lanka’s Colombo and the United Arab Emirates’ Jebel Ali.
Meanwhile, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), Taiwan’s second-largest container shipper, yesterday said it had inked a contract with Hung Hua Construction Co Ltd (宏華營造) for the construction plans of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) container terminal project at Kaohsiung Harbor, bid by its subsidiary Kao Ming Container Terminal Corp (高明貨櫃碼頭).
The contract is worth NT$2.2 billion to NT$2.5 billion, Yang Ming said.
Sany gets loan commitments
Sany Group Co (三一集團), owner of China’s biggest machinery maker, received commitments from 10 banks for its US$200 million-equivalent three-year loan, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行), Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀) and Tai Fung Bank Ltd (大豐銀行) committed US$17 million each, while Cathay United Bank Co (國泰世華銀行) pledged US$15 million and Nanyang Commercial Bank Ltd (南洋商業銀行) provided HK$132.6 million (US$17 million), the person said, asking not to be identified.
HSBC Holdings PLC, the loan’s arranger and bookrunner, committed US$25 million, the person said.
Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Hang Seng Bank (恒生銀行), Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (上海浦東發展銀行) and Taiwan Business Bank (臺灣中小企業銀行) pledged US$23 million, the person said.
NT dollar advances
The New Taiwan dollar gained value on the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.052 to close at NT$29.578, on turnover of US$684 million.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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