The TAIEX yesterday closed above 16,700 points, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
The benchmark index closed up 393.91 points, or 2.40 percent, at the day’s high of 16,781.19. Turnover was NT$283.979 billion (US$10.13 billion).
The market drew support from strong buying of technology stocks, after TSMC posted a higher-than-expected profit in the third quarter and upgraded its outlook at an investor conference on Thursday.
All of the major stock categories, except the textiles sector, gained ground, with mechanical and electronics shares scoring the highest gains.
Semiconductor shares accounted for nearly 40 percent of total turnover, while stocks in the shipping industry made up 14 percent.
TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock on the TAIEX, rose 4.17 percent to close at NT$600.00, with 53 million shares changing hands.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the second-largest Taiwanese contract chipmaker, closed 4.23 percent higher at NT$59.10.
Among Apple Inc suppliers, Largan Precision Co (大立光), a smartphone camera lens maker, gained 2.03 percent to close at NT$2,010.00.
Shares of iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), second only to TSMC in terms of market capitalization, rose 2.82 percent to close at NT$109.50.
However, shipping industry shares came under selling pressure, with shares of the top three companies all closing lower.
Evergreen Marine Corp fell 1.47 percent to close at NT$93.90, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) edged down 0.11 percent to close at NT$92.30 and Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運) closed 2.13 percent lower at NT$161.00.
Whether the rally is maintained depends on the performance of technology shares in the US in the next few weeks, Cathay Futures Consultant Co (國泰證期顧問) analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) said.
Foreign institutional investors yesterday bought a net NT$27.90 billion of shares, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained