EQUITIES
TAIEX flat due to US markets
Shares in Taiwan closed nearly flat yesterday, after moving into consolidation mode, as investor sentiment was dictated by a lackluster performance on Wall Street after a hawkish statement given by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, dealers said. Lingering concerns over Russia’s war with Ukraine also weighed on the main board, with the bellwether electronics sector — led by large-cap semiconductor stocks — taking the brunt of the pressure, they said. The TAIEX closed down 0.65 points at 17,559.71, after moving between 17,468.55 and 17,573.29. Turnover totaled NT$235.455 billion (US$8.25 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$354 million of shares on the main board after buying a net NT$196 million on Monday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
EQUITIES
Foreigners sell NT$39.32bn
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$39.32 billion of local shares after selling NT$180.98 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement on Monday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$478.75 billion of local shares from the beginning of the year, it said. Last week, the top three shares foreign investors sold were China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), while the top three shares they bought were China Steel Corp (中鋼), Tatung Co (大同) and Pegatron Corp (和碩), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market cap of shares held by foreign investors was NT$22.52 trillion, or 41.60 percent of total market cap, it said.
ELECTRONICS
Tong Hsing revenue to drop
Tong Hsing Electronic Industries Inc (同欣電), an image sensor packaging services arm of Yageo Corp (國巨), yesterday said revenue this quarter would likely drop by a single-digit percentage from a quarter earlier due to seasonal factors. However, the firm remains positive about its business performance for the whole of this year, expecting revenue to hit another record compared with last year’s NT$13.88 billion, as customer demand remains strong, Tong Hsing president Heinz Ru (呂紹萍) told investors in a teleconference. Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensor packaging services would grow at the fastest rate this year, while ceramic substrate, radio-frequency module and mixed IC module businesses would also see steady growth, he said. The firm’s new production facilities in Taoyuan’s Bade District (八德) are expected to begin installing equipment in August and start volume production in the fourth quarter, chief operating officer Chang Chia-shuai (張嘉帥) said. The firm has budgeted a capital expenditure of NT$1 billion for this year. Net profit rose 90.6 percent year-on-year to NT$2.77 billion last year, the highest in the firm’s history, with earnings per share rising from NT$7.88 to NT$15.49, company data showed.
LOTTERY
Winning invoices unclaimed
Four NT$10 million-winning uniform invoices and nine NT$2 million winners issued in November and December last year remain unclaimed, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The winning serial number for the NT$10 million prize is 31150905 and the one for the NT$2 million prize is 28564531, the ministry said. It urged those with winning receipts who have yet to claim their prize to do so by the May 5 deadline. The ministry said the winning numbers for invoices issued in January and last month would be drawn on Friday.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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