CHINA
PMI hits seven-month low
Chinese manufacturing activity contracted last month, HSBC’s closely watched purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed yesterday, as the world’s second-largest economy is buffeted by domestic headwinds. The British banking giant’s final PMI for the month came in at 49.6, it said in a statement, slightly up from a preliminary reading of 49.5, but still the lowest in seven months. It also marked the first contraction since May’s 49.4. Readings above 50 indicate growth, while anything below points to shrinkage.
SOUTH KOREA
Inflation at 14-month low
South Korean inflation hit its lowest point for 14 months last month, reflecting plunging oil prices, state data showed yesterday. Consumer prices last month rose 0.8 percent from a year ago, slowing from 1 percent growth in November, state-run Statistics Korea said. That marked the lowest gain since October 2013, when consumer prices rose 0.9 percent. Inflation for the whole of last year rose 1.3 percent after growing at the same pace in 2013. The core consumer price index, excluding volatile energy and food prices, rose 1.6 percent last month, unchanged from a month earlier.
VIETNAM
Economy grew 5.98%
The economy grew to a three-year high of 5.98 percent last year, despite a festering banking crisis and damaging anti-China riots, authorities said yesterday. The figure — higher than 2013’s growth of 5.42 percent and 5.25 percent in 2012 — marks “a positive sign,” according to a statement on the Web site of the General Statistics Office. Inflation last year slowed to 4.09 percent, from 6.04 percent in 2013, the office added. The government is targeting economic growth of 6.2 percent this year.
SINGAPORE
GDP growth slows to 2.8%
Singapore’s economic growth cooled last year and the nation will experience slower expansion than it has been used to, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said yesterday. GDP rose 2.8 percent this year, Lee, 62, said in his New Year message. That is below a November forecast of about 3 percent and an expansion of 3.9 percent in 2013.
UKRAINE
Economy shrinks 7.5%
The Ukrainian economy likely shrank 7.5 percent last year, after the conflict with eastern separatists and Russia’s takeover of Crimea helped trigger a “full-scale” financial crisis, central bank Governor Valeriya Gontareva said on Tuesday. The banking system is “non-functioning,” and the rate of the hryvnia, which fell 48 percent against the US dollar last year to become the world’s worst-
performing currency, reflects its true value, Gontareva said at a briefing at the bank in Kiev. When asked whether Ukraine would default on its debt, she said: “We don’t want to be a pariah country.”
UNITED STATES
Consumer confidence up
Consumer confidence rebounded last month after falling the previous month, the Conference Board reported on Tuesday. The consumer confidence index rose to 92.6 from 88.7 in November, still shy of the year’s peak at 94.5 in October, but well up from 77.5 a year ago. Consumers views of the current situation in the economy were fairly strong, but the outlook for the next half year dimmed, with the expectations sub-index dropping to 88.5 from 89.3, according to the board.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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