STOCK MARKET
Foreign inflows increase
Foreign institutional investors in Taiwan last month registered a net fund inflow of US$3.32 billion, increasing from the previous month, government statistics showed. Data released on Friday by the Financial Supervisory Commission showed that last month’s net inflow beat January’s figure of US$2.65 billion and was the highest monthly inflow since June last year, when it reached US$4.05 billion. Riding a wave of high liquidity, the TAIEX has risen 496.97 points, or 5.37 percent, since the beginning of this year. In the first two months of the year, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$95.3 billion (US$3.07 billion) worth of shares on the local main bourse, the commission said.
STOCK MARKET
THSRC included in index
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) has been included in the FTSE TWSE Taiwan Mid-Cap 100 Index after a quarterly review by the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The adjustment is to take effect on March 20, the exchange said. The company was listed on the main board on Oct. 27 last year, with a share price of NT$15.15.
BANKING
Banks to offer Apple Pay
Seven banks in Taiwan have obtained the Financial Supervisory Commission’s approval to provide services offered by Apple Pay. The banks are Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行), Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行), Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), CTBC Bank (中國信託銀行), First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) and Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行), the Banking Bureau said. It is still unknown when Apple Pay will be available in Taiwan, since it depends on Apple’s cooperation with the banks, it said.
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
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