EQUITIES
TAIEX moves lower
The TAIEX moved lower yesterday, falling by more than 100 points as the bellwether electronics sector took a hit from losses incurred by tech stocks listed on US markets overnight. However, with the market awash in liquidity, buying rotated to old-economy stocks in the shipping and cement industries as investors tended to park their money in safe havens outside the tech sector, dealers said. The TAIEX closed down 121.76 points, or 0.70 percent, at 17,202.11. Turnover totaled NT$439.833 billion (US$15.62 billion). Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$20.26 billion of shares on the main board yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
BROKERAGES
Combined profit surges
Securities firms in Taiwan reported combined net profit of NT$11.47 billion for last month, up 52.78 percent from the previous month, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said in a statement yesterday. Accumulated net profit among securities firms in the first three months of this year totaled NT$26.85 billion, up NT$31.45 billion from the same period last year, the exchange said. As total TWSE trading value grew 56.29 percent month-on-month to NT$7.06 trillion last month, firms reported an increase in brokerage fee income than the previous month, it said. However, net profit from trading decreased 4.88 percent monthly, while net underwriting income increased by 67.12 percent, it said.
TECHNOLOGY
Ene to cancel shares
IC designer Ene Technology Inc (迅杰科技) yesterday announced a capital reduction scheme in which it would cancel 51.55 percent of its shares in circulation to pare accumulated losses. The scheme would reduce its capitalization to NT$363 million from NT$386.5 billion, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company said it expects net value per share to recover to NT$12 following the capital reduction. The company’s board of directors approved a private placement plan to woo potential strategic investors and boost working capital. The company proposed issuing up to 8 million new shares in the private placement, the filing said.
TECHNOLOGY
Naver eyes global growth
Naver Corp wants to boost its international presence after its US debut last month. To help with that, the South Korean company is considering more US dollar bond sales and is eyeing a possible initial public offering in the US for a unit, Naver chief financial officer Park Sang-jin said in an interview. “To grow, it’s inevitable that we go global,” said Park, who has been with the firm since it was founded in 1999. Naver is looking for more opportunities in Japan, where its Line messaging service is popular, as well as Taiwan, Europe and Southeast Asia, he said.
ELECTRONICS
Purple iPhone sales unveiled
Preorders for purple iPhone 12s and iPhone 12 minis are scheduled to start tomorrow in Taiwan, with the country selected as one of the first markets for sales, Apple Inc said on its Web site. The US electronics giant said that preorders for the “stunning” purple devices would start at 8pm and the new phones would go on sale on Friday next week at a starting price of NT$23,900. The announcement came after Apple unveiled the new color of its latest iPhones overnight.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
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