EQUITIES
Investors remain cautious
The TAIEX yesterday closed slightly higher after giving up most early gains, as market sentiment remained cautious ahead of the conclusion of a two-day policymaking meeting of the US Federal Reserve later in the day, dealers said. Large-cap tech stocks moved up and down throughout the session, while the transportation sector came under heavy pressure led by major shipping stocks, they said. Many tech heavyweights fell from their highs, while late-session bargain hunting prevented them from ending lower, which dealers said they attributed to government-led funds offsetting a foreign institutional sell-off. The TAIEX closed up 14.77 points, or 0.09 percent, at 16,940.83. Turnover totaled NT$397.158 billion (US$13.875 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$14.999 billion of shares on the main board after selling a net NT$53.83 billion on Tuesday.
COMPUTERS
Quanta net profit rises 7.6%
Contract laptop maker Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) yesterday posted a net profit of NT$9.28 billion for the final quarter of last year, a 7.6 percent year-on-year increase despite persistent shortages of key components. That led to a whole-year net profit of NT$33.65 billion, a 32.9 percent year-on-year increase, or earnings per share of NT$8.73, the highest in the company’s history. Quanta’s board of directors yesterday proposed distributing a cash dividend of NT$6.6 per common share, representing a payout ratio of 75.6 percent. With Quanta shares closing at NT$92 yesterday, the proposed dividend represents a cash yield of 7.17 percent. The dividend proposal is subject to shareholders’ approval at the company’s annual general meeting on June 17 in Taoyuan, Quanta said.
INVESTMENT
CDFHC net profit hits record
China Development Financial Holding Co (CDFHC, 中華開發金控) yesterday reported record net profit of NT$35 billion for last year, up 177 percent from 2020, thanks to stable contributions from its major subsidiaries, such as China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽), KGI Bank (凱基銀行), KGI Securities Ltd (凱基證券) and CDIB Capital Group (中華開發資本). The company told investors that it would raise its dividend payout this year, after it paid out a cash dividend of NT$0.55 per share last year, adding that it has yet to finalize the distribution plan. Despite fluctuations in local equities in the past few sessions, the company said that its outlook on the local bourse remains cautiously optimistic, citing sound fundamentals at Taiwan’s listed firms.
BANKING
Sunny Hsu released on bail
Former Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) spokesman and senior vice president Sunny Hsu (徐順鋆) was on Tuesday released on bail of NT$200,000 after being questioned regarding suspected insider trading. Hsu and five other people, including Shin Kong Financial spokesman and vice president Stan Lee (李超儒), were earlier in the day summoned to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to answer questions about an April 2018 merger. At that time, Shin Kong Financial announced that it would acquire MasterLink Securities Co (元富證券), in which it held a 33.45 percent stake, via a share swap valued at about NT$13 billion to bring the firm fully under its corporate umbrella. On Tuesday, prosecutors and investigators also collected evidence for the case at five locations. After being questioned, Lee was released on bail of NT$300,000, prosecutors said.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
FORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCES: New technology always comes with new innovations by the iniquitous in exploiting users for financial gain or more nefarious ends Artificial intelligence (AI) “agents” say they can save users time and energy by automating tasks, but the growing power of systems such as OpenClaw is putting cybersecurity experts on edge. Powered by a wave of hype, OpenClaw today says it has more than three million users worldwide. The system allows users to create so-called agents, tools based on a large language model (LLM) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic PBC’s Claude, that can carry out online tasks. “We’ve moved from an AI you could talk with via a chatbot to an agentic AI, which can take action... the threat and the risks are
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