Business sentiment in the nation’s manufacturing sector last month turned cautious as many industries faced their annual slow seasons, according to a survey released by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday.
However, the service sector remained upbeat, as the retail and food and beverage segments benefited from strong consumer spending ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, the institute said.
The survey showed that the manufacturing composite index fell 1.39 points from a month earlier to 100.04, ending three consecutive months of gains.
Beyond the slow season effects, the sector was also affected by a reduced number of working days in the month, the institute said.
Bucking the downturn in the manufacturing sector as a whole, the construction subindex rose 1.3 points from a month earlier to 87.64, its second consecutive month of growth, on the back of an increase in the number of property transactions last month, it added.
The survey showed that the composite index for the service sector rose 2.17 points from a month earlier to 91.44 last month, the second consecutive month of increase.
TIER Economic Forecasting Center director Gordon Sun (孫明德) said peak season effects during the Lunar New Year holiday boosted the sales of many retailers and restaurant operators.
Sentiment in the service sector was also lifted by gains on the nation’s stock market, as the TAIEX last month rose 2.1 percent on the back of ample liquidity, Sun said.
However, a quarterly survey released by JPMorgan Asset Management Taiwan Ltd (摩根資產管理) earlier this week indicated that investor confidence has weakened this quarter to the second-lowest level in history, weighed by worries over cross-strait ties, the domestic economic outlook and the investment climate.
The JPMorgan investor confidence gauge fell to 80.7 this quarter, from 81 three months earlier, even though Taiwanese investors are upbeat about the global economy and portfolio value gains in the next six months, the JPMorgan survey showed.
“The findings reflect a lack of confidence due to political and policy uncertainty,” JPMorgan Taiwan vice president Alex Chio (邱亮士) said.
The measures on cross-strait relations, investment environment and domestic economy shed points, more than neutralizing gains in the subindices of global economy, portfolio value and TAIEX outlook, according to the survey, which polled 3,947 people between Jan. 3 and Jan. 23.
The confidence trend ran counter to rallies in local shares and the New Taiwan dollar, which this year have gained 5.37 percent and 5.05 percent respectively, Taiwan Stock Exchange and central bank data showed.
Additional reporting by Crystal Hsu
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS