Shares advanced in most Asian markets on Friday after Wall Street extended a rally into a third day and oil prices pushed past US$105 per barrel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for more help for his country after days of bombardment of civilian sites in multiple cities over the past few days.
The war is among the uncertainties overhanging markets.
The TAIEX on Friday edged up 0.048 percent to close at 17,456.52 points, posting a weekly gain of 1.11 percent.
Wrapping up a two-day meeting, the Bank of Japan opted to keep its monetary policy unchanged, with its benchmark interest rate at minus-0.1 percent. Japan’s central bank has been keeping interest rates ultra-low and pumping tens of billions of US dollars into the world’s third-largest economy for years, trying to spur faster growth.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 on Friday gained 0.65 percent, or 174.54 points, to 26,827.43, advancing 6.6 percent on the week, while the broader TOPIX added 0.54 percent, or 10.26 points, to 1,909.27, surging 6.1 percent weekly.
Among major shares, Sony Group Corp rose 1.26 percent to 12,425 yen and Softbank Group Corp jumped 3.68 percent.
Uniqlo-operator Fast Retailing Co rose 0.5 percent.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group emerged above water and ended 0.26 percent higher, while Nintendo Co gave up earlier gains and ended 0.02 percent lower.
Air carrier ANA Holdings Inc dropped 0.67 percent and Toyota Motor Corp fell 0.79 percent after the automaker announced a further reduction of production activities because of a COVID-19 pandemic-linked parts shortage.
In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney rose 0.6 percent to 7,294.40, bringing its weekly gain to 3.3 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index retreated 0.4 percent to 21,412.40 points, paring its weekly gain to 4.2 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index on Friday added 1 percent to 3,251.07, falling 1.8 percent weekly.
Big swings in markets have become the norm as investors struggle to handicap what will happen to the economy and the world’s already high inflation because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, higher interest rates from central banks around the world and renewed COVID-19 worries in various hotspots.
Additional reporting by staff writer
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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
RSS