ECONOMY
Money supply increases
The nation’s money supply increased last month, but the narrow gauge M1B — cash and cash equivalents — slowed to its lowest level in four years at 4.57 percent as people cut cash positions in favor of time deposits and insurance policies, the central bank said yesterday. The bank shrugged off concerns of a downturn in equity investment interest, saying the local bourse has benefited from continued foreign fund inflows. Foreign fund inflows totaled US$9.28 billion last quarter, higher than the US$6.55 billion recorded a year earlier, the bank said. The broad money gauge M2 — which includes foreign currency deposits, time deposits and M1B — advanced at 3.64 percent, slower than M1B, lending support to liquidity mobility, the bank said.
CEMENT MAKERS
Chia Hsin to sell TCCI stake
Chia Hsin Cement Corp (嘉泥) yesterday said its board has approved a plan to sell its stake in TCC International Holdings Ltd (TCCI, 台泥國際集團), a joint venture between the company and Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥), to support TCCI’s privatization. The plan came as Taiwan Cement announced its proposal to privatize TCCI and delist its shares from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Taiwan Cement is the largest stakeholder in TCCI, owning a 63.05 percent stake, while Chia Hsin has a 9.7 percent stake, company data showed. Chia Hsin shareholders are to receive 0.42 Taiwan Cement shares for each TCCI common share, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
E-COMMERCE
Amazon opens Taiwan office
Amazon.com Inc yesterday launched its Taiwan office to help local companies explore opportunities in the global business-to-business market. The office is tasked with connecting Taiwanese businesses to Amazon’s 300 million active customers and 40,000 institutional clients worldwide, Amazon Global Selling Asia head Cindy Tai (戴竫斐) said yesterday. The US giant’s electronic commerce and logistics services are well suited to helping Taiwan’s export-oriented companies tap into the global market without setting up costly distribution deals, Tai said.
CHIPMAKERS
Novatek cuts its dividend
Novatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠), which supplies chips that control flat-panel displays, yesterday announced a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$7 per share, lower than the NT$9 per share the company paid last year. That translates into a dividend yield of 6.31 percent when compared with the stock’s closing price of NT$111 yesterday. Last year, Novatek made NT$5 billion (US$165.2 million) in net profit, or earnings per share of NT$8.22, down from NT$6.4 billion, or earnings per share of NT$10.52, the previous year.
AIRLINES
TransAsia agrees sale
TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空), which ended operations on Nov. 22 last year because of insurmountable financial woes, has reached an agreement for a buyer to conditionally acquire 11 of its aircraft for US$364 million, the airline said. However, the highest bidder for the 11-plane package consented to TransAsia selling any of the 11 airplanes to the second-highest bidder because the deal could take a long time to complete, the airline said in a statement released on Sunday. Based on that condition, TransAsia has decided to sell four A330s and A321s to the second-highest bidder, with whom it would sign a contract today, the statement said.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
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