EQUITIES
TAIEX hits record high
The TAIEX yesterday rose more than 100 points as buying rotated to non-technology shares, in particular raw materials and shipping firms, with investors betting on a strong global economic recovery. Interest in old economy and financial shares offset the downturn suffered by large-cap electronics stocks such as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and other semiconductor heavyweights, helping the benchmark index close at a record high, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 104.47 points, or 0.61 percent, at 17,263.28 on turnover of NT$440.374 billion (US$15.61 billion). Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$704 million of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
EQUITIES
Foreigners in sell-off
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$670 million of local shares after buying a net NT$17.39 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. The top three shares sold by foreign investors were Innolux Corp (群創), AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), while the top three bought were Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), China Steel Corp (中鋼) and CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), the exchange said. As of Friday last week, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$23.31 trillion, or 44.49 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
EQUITIES
Margin trading approved
Pan German Universal Motors Ltd (汎德永業汽車), which distributes BMW, Porsche and Mini vehicles in Taiwan, has gained permission from the Taiwan Stock Exchange to start margin trading of its shares from today, the exchange said in a statement yesterday. Pan German listed its shares on the main board on Oct. 12 last year and it has met the exchange’s margin-trading regulations, the statement said. Pan German shares yesterday closed up 0.61 percent at NT$246.5. The firm last week reported revenue of NT$10.3 billion for the first quarter, a 27.12 percent year-on-year increase.
FOOTWEAR
Fulgent Q1 income slips
Fulgent Sun Group (鈺齊國際), which manufactures outdoor shoes made of waterproof and breathable fabric such as Gore-Tex, yesterday posted first-quarter net income of NT$325.49 million, or earnings per share of NT$1.75, down 8.1 percent year-on-year. The company, which also makes sports footwear, said sales in the first quarter totaled NT$3.42 billion, up 23.2 percent from NT$2.77 billion in the same period last year. Fulgent said its gross profit, operating profit and net profit in the first quarter all were the second-highest level in its history, while first-quarter sales hit the highest ever for the period. Fulgent said that sales for the next three quarters would likely be higher than the first quarter.
WATER
Work begins on three wells
A CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) team began drilling wells in Taichung on Saturday last week, a member of the team said on Sunday, in the hope of providing much-needed water to central Taiwan amid a serious drought. Su Chin-li (蘇晉立) said the team’s heavy machinery began drilling three wells near the Liyutan Water Treatment Plant in a project that is scheduled to be completed by Wednesday next week. Each well is expected to be 350m deep and able to provide 5,000m3 of water per day, Su said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the