CURRENCIES
PBOC lowers yuan
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) yesterday set the value of the yuan at a more than five-year low against the US dollar, according to the national foreign exchange market, in a pattern of weakness in anticipation of higher US interest rates. The central bank put the yuan at 6.5784 to US$1, down 0.45 percent from its fix on Friday and its lowest level since February 2011, according to data from the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The government only allows the yuan to rise or fall 2 percent on either side of the daily fix, one of the ways it maintains control over the currency.
MINING
Galaxy to buy lithium firm
Galaxy Resources Ltd, an Australian lithium developer, yesterday agreed to acquire joint-venture partner General Mining Corp in a deal that values its target at A$216 million (US$155 million). Shares in the two companies surged. Perth, Australia-based Galaxy offered 1.65 new shares for each General Mining share it does not already own, it said in a statement. The boards of both companies unanimously support the merger, according to the statement. The combined entity is to have hard-rock and brine-based lithium projects in Australia, Canada and Argentina. Developers of lithium projects are racing to bring new supply to market amid soaring prices. Growth in electric vehicle sales is forecast to double demand for the material in the next five years, Liberum Capital Ltd said in a note on Friday.
SWEDEN
First-quarter GDP rose 0.5%
The economy grew almost in line with estimates in the first quarter as consumer spending gained amid record stimulus from the central bank. GDP expanded 0.5 percent from the fourth quarter, Statistics Sweden said in a statement. Growth was expected to reach 0.6 percent in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. It expanded an annual 4.2 percent, compared with a 4.3 percent estimate. Fourth-quarter growth was revised up to 1.6 percent from 1.3 percent. The largest Nordic economy has boomed as the central bank cut rates deep below zero and pumped money into the economy by buying government bonds.
FRANCE
GDP growth beats forecast
The economy grew faster than estimated in the first quarter, lifted by improving corporate investment. Growth accelerated to 0.6 percent, instead of the 0.5 percent estimated on April 29, statistics office INSEE said yesterday. That compared with a 0.4 percent increase in the previous quarter and 1.4 percent a year earlier. Corporate investment jumped 2.4 percent in the quarter instead of the 1.6 percent estimated, helped by 40 billion euros (US$44.5 billion) in tax cuts over the course of four years and a short-term tax break that allowed companies accelerated amortization in the current fiscal year. Consumer spending increased 1 percent, compared with the 1.2 percent initially reported.
ENTERTAINMENT
Disney may sue Wanda
Walt Disney Co said it was prepared to take action to protect its intellectual property rights after performers dressed as Snow White and Captain America, as well as stuffed animals that resembled Kung Fu Panda, were featured at Dalian Wanda Group Co’s (萬達集團) new theme park in China’s Jiangxi Province. “The non-Wanda characters were operated by individual stores within Wanda Mall. They do not represent Wanda,” Wanda said in a statement.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
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