EQUITIES
Gogoro dives on US debut
Electric scooter maker Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) on Tuesday made its debut on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, but its shares plunged more than 12 percent as tech stocks on the US market suffered heavy losses amid rising fears that the US Federal Reserve would become more aggressive in tightening its monetary policy. Gogoro, which is the first Taiwanese unicorn start-up to list its shares on the NASDAQ, closed down 12.3 percent at US$14.02, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ index fell 2.26 percent. Gogoro completed a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Poema Global Holdings Corp on Monday. It has been 16 years since a Taiwanese company has listed in the US, although Gogoro’s listing is a so-called backdoor listing, as Poema Global shares had previously been traded on the NASDAQ.
EQUITIES
Foreigners sell NT$7.2bn
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$7.2 billion (US$250.26 million) of local shares after buying a net NT$316.17 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$469.79 billion of local shares from the beginning of the year, it said. Last week, the top three shares foreign investors sold were Innolux Corp (群創), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), while the top three shares they bought were China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) and SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$22.7 trillion, or 41.54 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
EQUITIES
Financial shares shine
Financial shares have grown into an investment bright spot on the local bourse, outperforming tech and non-tech shares due to interest rate hikes at home and abroad, analysts said last week. Financial shares gained 6 percent last month, bucking declines of 1 to 2 percent in tech and non-tech shares, Cathay Securities Investment Trust Co (國泰投信) said. Investors expect financial stocks to benefit from widening interest spread after Taiwan and the US last month raised interest rates by 25 basis points and could increase them further to combat inflation, Cathay Securities said. The US Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by 2 percentage points this year, which would be favorable for the TAIEX, it said, adding that it would be worthwhile increasing stakes in shares in the TAIEX, as the main board has fallen to a relative cheap point with a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.4, compared with 13 in October last year.
HOTELIERS
Forte Hotel Hsinchu closing
Forte Hotel Hsinchu (新竹福泰商務飯店) has announced that it plans to stop offering guestrooms on May 10 and exit the market at the end of the month, when its lease is due to expire. The hotel, which has 138 guestrooms, said that the closure has nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic, as its occupancy rates have been 60 to 70 percent on average since the level 3 COVID-19 alert ended last year, thanks to a boom in domestic tourism. It said that it would not rule out a return to the market if the opportunity arises. Apart from the Hsinchu property, the group operates nine hotels in Taipei, Yilan, Taichung, Changhua and Chiayi. Four of them currently serve as quarantine facilities.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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