EQUITIES
TAIEX ends flat
Local shares yesterday closed flat after giving up earlier gains as the bellwether electronics sector came under pressure, dragging down the broader market, dealers said. While select old-economy stocks, in particular in the transportation and steel sectors, as well as the financial sector, remained strong throughout the session, market sentiment was cautious over the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, they said. The TAIEX ended down 1.7 points at 17,263.04 after moving between 17,217.58 and 17,363.04. Turnover was NT$286.16 billion (US$10.03 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$16.15 billion of shares.
EQUITIES
Foreign net sales surge
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$180.98 billion of local shares after selling NT$63.44 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$439.44 billion of local shares from the beginning of the year, it said. Last week, the top three shares foreign investors sold were Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) and Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控), while the top three shares they bought were Innolux Corp (群創), AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Wisdom Marine Lines Co (慧洋海運), the exchange said. The market cap of shares held by foreign investors was NT$22.35 trillion, or 41.75 percent of total market cap, it said.
ENERGY
Hsing Mien to invest NT$800m
Hsing Mien Industry Co (信銘工業) plans to invest NT$800 million to expand its manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday, as it approved the industrial gas provider’s application to join the government’s “Invest in Taiwan” initiative. The company plans to expand capacity at a plant at the Ping Nan Industrial Park (屏南工業區) in Pingtung County and increase production lines at a plant in Kaohsiung’s Dafa Industrial Park (大發工業區), the ministry said. Hsing Mien provides a wide range of industrial bulk gas and liquid gas used in different industrial applications, with customers including semiconductor companies and other high-tech firms.
TAXES
Receipt lottery raises wins
The National Taxation Administration on Friday said it would increase the number of NT$500 prize-winning receipts for its Cloud Uniform Invoice lottery to encourage the use of cloud invoices. Starting with the January-February draw, the number of NT$500 prize winners would be increased from 1 million to 1.65 million. The number of prize-winning receipts for the NT$1 million, NT$2,000 and NT$800 prizes is to remain unchanged at 30, 16,000 and 100,000 respectively, the agency said.
ELECTRONICS
Foxconn Industrial profit up
Foxconn Industrial Internet Co (富士康工業互聯網), Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) Shanghai-listed subsidiary that specializes in industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) solutions, yesterday reported that net profit last year grew 14.77 percent from a year earlier to 20.01 billion yuan (US$3.15 billion), it said in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. That translated into earnings per share of 1.01 yuan, up from 0.88 yuan. Revenue rose 1.8 percent year-on-year to a record high 439.56 billion yuan. Foxconn Industrial attributed the growth to robust demand for cloud computing, IIoT, articificial intelligence and 5G-related applications.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
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