EQUITIES
TAIEX closes higher
The TAIEX closed sharply higher yesterday, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) recovering from earlier losses. In a market awash in liquidity, there was buying among old-economy and financial stocks throughout the session, lending additional support to the broader market, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 264.85 points, or 1.66 percent, at the day’s high of 16,211.73. Turnover totaled NT$302.229 billion (US$10.7 billion) during the session. Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$14.11 billion of shares on the main board yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
MANUFACTURERS
Airtac revenue rises yearly
Pneumatic components supplier Airtac International Group (亞德客) yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$1.41 billion for last month, up 164.8 percent year-on-year, but down 33.92 percent month-on-month. “Market demand and the company’s market share are growing steadily,” Airtac said in a statement. “However, due to the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday, the number of working days last month decreased.” A breakdown of sales showed improved growth in shipments for the automotive, machine tool equipment and battery industries, the firm said. Cumulative revenue from January to last month totaled NT$3.54 billion, up 149.3 percent from a year earlier.
SEMICONDUCTORS
CPTT sales decline
Chunghwa Precision Test Tech Co (CPTT, 中華精測) yesterday reported revenue of NT$191.7 million for last month, the lowest since March 2019. Last month’s figure fell 28.54 percent from January and decreased 33.2 percent from the same month a year earlier, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The firm attributed the decline to the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday, which reduced the number of working days last month. Some clients delaying orders for probe card testing services to this month also contributed to the decline, it said. Aggregated revenue in the first two months of the year totaled NT$459.97 million, down 18.16 percent from NT$562.01 million in the same period last year.
BANKING
Executives’ exits approved
The Ministry of Finance on Tuesday approved the resignation of Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) chairman Hwang Bor-chang (黃柏川) and Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行) president Chen Shih-ching (陳世卿). Hwang and Chen were accused of pressuring subordinates while they worked for Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行) in 2009.
TOURISM
Parks open mobile payments
Several mobile payment services are to be accepted at 12 national forest recreation areas across Taiwan effective immediately, the Forestry Bureau said on Tuesday. Mobile payment systems LINE Pay, E.Sun Wallet, Pi Crypto Wallet and Jkos Pay can now be used to pay for admission at Alishan, Taipingshan, Manyueyuan, Dasyueshan, Aowanda, Kenting, Shuangliu, Neidong, Dongyanshan, Basianshan, Jhihben and Chihnan forest recreation areas, the bureau said.
RESTAURANTS
Ting Hsin eyes HK IPO
Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團), the food company behind the Master Kong (康師傅) brand, is weighing a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) of its restaurant business in China, people with knowledge of the matter said. The firm has invited banks to pitch for a role on the listing, the people said. It might include restaurant chains Dicos (德克士), a prominent fried chicken brand, and Master Kong Chef’s Table (康師傅私房牛肉麵), which specializes in Taiwanese-style beef noodles, in the listing, the people said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
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