EQUITIES
Taiwan’s weighting lowered
Global index provider MSCI Inc last week cut Taiwan’s weighting in its Emerging Markets Index by 0.27 percentage points to 10.71 percent and lowered its weighting in the All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index by 0.17 percentage points to 12.71 percent, but left its weighting in the All-Country World Index unchanged at 1.28 percent. The changes are to take effect after the market closes on Aug. 28, MSCI said on Thursday. The Financial Supervisory Commission forecast that about US$1.1 billion in foreign funds would exit the local markets after the adjustments.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Reserves hit record high
Taiwan’s foreign-exchange reserves reached a record NT$467.23 billion (US$14.90 billion) at the end of last month, largely due to higher returns on the central bank’s investment portfolio, the bank’s data showed on Monday last week. The figure rose US$261 million, or 0.06 percent, from a month earlier, according to data compiled by the bank. The holdings of Taiwanese stocks, bonds and New Taiwan dollar-denominated deposits by foreign investors totaled US$376.8 billion at the end of last month, up from US$367.9 billion at the end of June.
BANKING
HSBC Holdings official quits
HSBC Holdings PLC’s greater China chief executive Helen Wong (黃碧娟) is leaving, a bank spokeswoman said on Friday, the second senior departure last week after the ousting of group chief executive officer John Flint. Wong’s role is to be dropped and Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China are to be run by the respective country heads, the spokeswoman said. Wong also resigned as chairwoman of HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀).
DOLLAR CHALLENGE: BRICS countries’ growing share of global GDP threatens the US dollar’s dominance, which some member states seek to displace for world trade US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100 percent tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the US dollar. His threat was directed at countries in the so-called BRICS alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members and several other countries have expressed interest in joining. While the US dollar is by far the most-used currency in global business and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, members of the alliance and other developing nations say they are fed
LIMITED MEASURES: The proposed restrictions on Chinese chip exports are weaker than previously considered, following lobbying by major US firms, sources said US President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing additional curbs on sales of semiconductor equipment and artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips to China that would escalate the US crackdown on Beijing’s tech ambitions, but stop short of some stricter measures previously considered, said sources familiar with the matter. The restrictions could be unveiled as soon as next week, said the sources, who emphasized that the timing and contours of the rules have changed several times, and that nothing is final until they are published. The measures follow months of deliberations by US officials, negotiations with allies in Japan and the Netherlands, and
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) yesterday said it expects any impact of new tariffs from US president-elect Donald Trump to hit the company less than its rivals, citing its global manufacturing footprint. Young Liu (劉揚偉), chairman of the contract manufacturer and key Apple Inc supplier, told reporters after a forum in Taipei that it saw the primary impact of any fresh tariffs falling on its clients because its business model is based on contract manufacturing. “Clients may decide to shift production locations, but looking at Foxconn’s global footprint, we are ahead. As a result, the impact on us is likely smaller compared to
TECH COMPETITION: The US restricted sales of two dozen types of manufacturing equipment and three software tools, and blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities US President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled new restrictions on China’s access to vital components for chips and artificial intelligence (AI), escalating a campaign to contain Beijing’s technological ambitions. The US Department of Commerce slapped additional curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and chipmaking gear, including that produced by US firms at foreign facilities. It also blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities that it accused of acting on Beijing’s behalf, although it did not name them in an initial statement. Full details on the new sanctions and Entity List additions were to be published later yesterday, a US official said. The US “will
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