AUSTRALIA
Interest rates held at 2.5%
The nation’s central bank yesterday left interest rates on hold at a historic low of 2.5 percent, in a widely expected move four days ahead of national elections. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) last month cut rates to their lowest level since it was established in 1959, underscoring fears of a slowdown as country’s decade-long mining boom slows down. The RBA, which has cut rates by 25 basis points twice this year — in May and last month — said it would continue to assess the outlook and adjust policy as needed to foster sustainable growth in demand and inflation outcomes consistent with its target.
UNITED KINGDOM
Retail sales growth eases
Growth in British retail sales eased slightly last month after a bumper July, but demand for furniture helped to sustain the momentum, industry data showed yesterday. The British Retail Consortium said the total value of retail sales was 3.6 percent higher last month than a year ago, compared with 3.9 percent annual growth the previous month, which was the best July since 2006. Like-for-like sales, which strip out changes in floor space as retailers open and close outlets, rose 1.8 percent on the year, compared with 2.2 percent in July. The survey suggested Britons are feeling more confident about committing to big purchases, citing rising sales of furniture and flooring.
SPAIN
Unemployment down by 31
The country said yesterday it had eked out a sixth straight month of shrinking jobless queues last month when the number of people registered as unemployed dipped by just 31 people. The total number of registered unemployed — 4.70 million in raw figures — was basically unchanged, according to the Labor Ministry report. However, the decline of 31 people from the previous month was enough for the Spanish government to hail a sixth consecutive month of declines, and the first drop in the month of August since 2000. When the figures were corrected to smooth out seasonal variations, the number of claimants fell by a more substantial 13,700 people to 4.87 million.
SECURITIES
Investors sue Everbright
Everbright Securities Co (光大證券), ordered by China’s securities regulator to pay a record 523 million yuan (US$85 million) for insider trading, was sued by investors in Guangzhou and Shanghai seeking damages for losses. Courts in the two cities have received the claims and have not yet decided whether to accept them, lawyers for the investors, said yesterday. State-controlled Everbright sold exchange-traded funds and index futures on Aug. 16, before telling the market it had made 23.4 billion yuan of erroneous buy orders. The regulator barred the company from most proprietary trading, and banned four of its executives from the market for life.
ENERGY
Gazprom net profits rise
The world’s largest gas company, the state-controlled Russian giant Gazprom, yesterday announced that its net profits rose 5 percent in the first quarter to 380.7 billion rubles (US$11.4 billion). The rise in profits was driven by an increase in net sales of 19 percent, helped largely by an increase of sales of Gazprom’s core gas product by 25 percent over the period, the company said in a statement.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
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