EQUITIES
TAIEX falls 0.62 percent
The TAIEX yesterday closed lower as market sentiment remained cautious due to lingering concerns over moves by central banks worldwide to tighten monetary policy, dealers said. Selling was seen across the board, focusing particularly on transportation and financial shares, while the bellwether electronics sector was somewhat resilient, they said. Bucking the downturn on the TAIEX, biotechnology stocks attracted buying on a spike in domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases, they added. The TAIEX closed down 105.31 points, or 0.62 percent, at 16,898.87. Turnover totaled NT$228.800 billion (US$7.84 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$10.42 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The electronics sector fell 0.11 percent, with the semiconductor sub-index down only 0.08 percent, while the transportation sector fell 2.70 percent and the financial sector lost 2.05 percent.
EQUITIES
Foreign sell-off continues
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$55.59 billion of local shares after selling a net NT$83.02 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$608.4 billion of local shares from the beginning of the year, it said. Last week, the top three shares foreign investors sold were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), Taiwan Business Bank (台灣企銀) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), while the top three shares they bought were China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), Ta Chen Stainless Pipe Co (大成不銹鋼) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), the exchange said. As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$21.6 trillion, or 40.97 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
AIRLINES
Tigerair to sell NFTs
Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan Ltd (台灣虎航) yesterday announced plans to sell non-fungible tokens (NFT) of images of its tiger mascot. In a statement, Tigerair said that the NFTs, which are being produced in cooperation with Taiwan’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, MaiCoin Ltd (現代財富科技), would go on sale next month. Those who buy the NFTs will get the chance to go on a trip to France to take part in the delivery of an A320neo plane, the airline said. In addition, buyers will also get the right to fly with Tigerair in unoccupied seats as a crew member by paying only the taxes. Tigerair chairman Chen Han-ming (陳漢銘) said that NFTs, a unique cryptographic token that can be associated with reproducible digital files such as photographs, videos and audio, are beginning to be seen as a viable way to sell digital art.
SEMICONDUCTORS
PRC production shrinks
China’s quarterly production of semiconductors shrank for the first time since early 2019 as demand for consumer electronics softened and COVID-19 lockdowns in regions, including Shanghai, disrupted output. Output of integrated circuits dropped 4.2 percent in the first three months of the year as chipmakers reported a steeper decline last month, National Bureau of Statistics data showed. It was the worst quarterly performance since the first quarter of 2019 when the nation’s chip output slumped 8.7 percent. Demand for smartphones, PCs and TVs has been hurt by China’s lockdown measures, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman to Mark Liu (劉德音) said.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
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