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.
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
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence