EQUITIES
Foreign investors in sell-off
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$71.9 billion (US$2.46 billion) of shares, after they bought NT$238.65 billion and sold NT$310.55 billion, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. The top three shares sold by foreign investors were Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) and Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), while the top three purchased were Innolux Corp (群創), Acer Inc (宏碁) and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), the exchange said. As of Friday last week, foreign investors had sold a net NT$703.7 billion of shares this year and they accounted for 43.7 percent of market capitalization, the exchange said.
MACHINERY
Bright Sheland eyes masks
Bright Sheland International Co Ltd (旭然國際), which makes filtration products and separation systems under the Filtrafine brand, said that its shareholders yesterday approved proposals to add new businesses, such as medical equipment and medical-grade masks, to its portfolio. The company told a special shareholders’ meeting that it had invested NT$28 million setting up mask production lines in Yunlin Technology Industrial Park (雲林科技工業區), with monthly capacity of 600,000 to 800,000 masks. The company is applying for certificates from the Taiwan Textile Research Institute (紡織產業綜合研究所) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare before starting to sell masks at the end of this month, it said.
BANKING
Property loans hit record
Housing loans and lending to the construction sector increased last month, monthly data released by the central bank showed on Friday last week. Housing loans grew 7.18 percent year-on-year to NT$7.73 trillion, hitting a record high, the data showed. Construction loans grew 15.45 percent year-on-year to NT$2.29 trillion, also the highest on record, the central bank said. Continuous growth in housing and construction loans over the past months reflects recovering confidence in the industry and strong demand from returning Taiwanese businesses, the central bank said.
TRADE
LOI signed with Paraguay
Taiwan and Paraguay last week signed a letter of intent (LOI) to promote technical cooperation. The letter was signed at a meeting held via videoconference. “The LOI on technical cooperation signed at the conference is aimed at building mutual trust in the technical competence of the two sides’ respective conformity assessment bodies, and harmonizing their regulatory systems through bilateral cooperation and exchanges in the areas of standardization, metrology and conformity assessment,” the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement.
PROPERTY
Evergrande shares rally
China Evergrande Group (恒大集團) shares rallied the most since March and its bonds showed tentative signs of stabilization after the property giant moved to reassure jittery investors of its financial strength. The real-estate company on Friday last week said that its operations were “stable and healthy.” It added that total debt and financing costs had dropped since March, and that it had not missed an interest or principal payment since its founding 24 years ago. The company’s shares climbed 21 percent yesterday in Hong Kong, erasing last week’s tumble. A volatile session for Evergrande’s debt securities saw its note due next year close up US$0.039 at US$0.904.
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
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