STOCK MARKET
Shares extend momentum
Shares in Taiwan yesterday extended momentum from the previous session to end higher as concerns over trade tensions between the US and China diminished after the latest round of negotiations, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 68.01 points, or 0.66 percent, at 10,390.93, on turnover of NT$133.563 billion (US$4.34 billion). Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$12.38 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The local bourse has seized a good opportunity to move even higher and challenge the strong technical resistance of about 10,500 in the short term with turnover regularly NT$130 billion or higher, analysts said.
ECONOMY
GDP at least 2%: DGBAS
While Taiwan faces the challenge of slowing global economic growth, it is expected to maintain GDP growth of no less than 2 percent this year, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday. Judging from current economic data, there is no problem for Taiwan to report 2 percent or higher GDP growth this year, Chu said. On Feb. 13, the DGBAS lowered its growth forecast to 2.27 percent from an earlier estimate of a 2.41 percent, compared with an anticipated 2.63 percent increase for last year.
ELECTRONICS
Greatek approves dividend
Greatek Electronics Inc (超豐), a consumer integrated-circuit testing and packaging firm, yesterday said its board had approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$2.7 per share, lower than the NT$3 it paid last year. The proposed dividend, if approved by shareholders on May 24, would represent a payout ratio of 64.59 percent based on last year’s earnings per share of NT$4.18. While last year’s consolidated revenue hit a record NT$12.36 billion, up 3.4 percent year-on-year, net profit fell 5.3 percent to NT$2.38 billion on sliding gross and operating margins.
VPN PROVIDERS
Chief Telecom dividend rises
Chief Telecom Inc (是方), a virtual private network (VPN) service provider, plans to distribute a cash dividend of NT$6.5 per share, plus NT$1 per share from surplus capital, to shareholders, compared with the NT$4.97 cash dividend it paid last year. The higher payout ratio reflects the company’s record earnings and sales last year, Chief Telecom said on Friday. Net profit last year increased 26 percent annually to NT$480 million, with earnings per share of NT$7.41, while revenue grew 6.87 percent to NT$2.27 billion, the company said. Gross margin improved by 14.7 percentage points to 39.3 percent, it said.
INSURERS
Ping An mulls debut
Ping An Insurance (Group) Co (中國平安保險), China’s largest insurer by market value, is gearing up for an initial public offering of its OneConnect (金融壹賬通) unit that could value the financial management portal at about US$8 billion, people familiar with the matter said. Ping An is seeking to list OneConnect in Hong Kong as soon as the second half of this year, one of the people said. The share sale could raise roughly US$1 billion, the people said. Gareth Hewett, a spokesman for OneConnect, declined to comment. The company provides cloud computing and other technology services to small and medium-sized financial institutions.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
RSS