EQUITIES
Shares rise slightly
Shares closed slightly higher yesterday as the electronics sector gave up earlier gains with many investors reluctant to chase prices despite initial increases, dealers said. Buying switched to old economy stocks, in particular the transportation sector, which served as an anchor stabilizing the broader market amid lingering concerns over further volatility on global markets, they said. The TAIEX closed up 11.56 points, or 0.07 percent, at 16,156.41. Turnover totaled NT$232.94 billion (US$7.86 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$2.03 billion of shares on the main board. The electronics sector fell 0.41 percent, with the semiconductor sub-index down 0.51 percent, while the transportation sector soared 6.43 percent and the financial sector rose 0.05 percent.
EQUITIES
Foreigners buy NT$2.18bn
Foreign investors last week bought a net NT$2.18 billion of local shares after selling a net NT$45.09 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$780.76 billion of local shares since the beginning of the year, the exchange said. Last week, the top three shares bought by foreign investors were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Innolux Corp (群創光電), while the top three shares sold by foreign investors were Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), China Steel Corp (中鋼) and E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控), it added. As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$20.45 trillion, or 40.81 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
EQUITIES
Intraday odd-lot trading rises
The average daily amount of trades through the intraday odd-lot trading mechanism totaled NT$2.77 billion for the first four months, up 60 percent from a year earlier, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Thursday. Although it was just a fraction of an average daily amount of NT$188 billion of all trades in the stock market, the growth indicated that the mechanism gained acceptance among investors, the commission said. The number of odd-lot traders grew to 1.21 million as of the end of last month, up from 320,000 before the intraday trading platform kicked off. About 29 percent are younger than 30. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) shares were most favored by odd-lot traders, accounting for 44 percent of all shares traded under the mechanism, while MediaTek Inc (聯發科) was in second place with a market share of 7 percent, the commission’s data showed.
INSURANCE
FWD IPO approved
FWD Group Holdings Ltd (富衛集團), the Asian insurer backed by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li (李澤楷), has won approval for its planned initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The company received approval following a hearing on Thursday with the Hong Kong bourse’s listing committee, the person said. The company has not decided when to launch the IPO, they added. The insurer is seeking to raise about US$1 billion in the offering, Bloomberg News has reported. FWD filed an application for the first-time share sale in February, after deciding to switch its listing venue from the US, where it had filed for an IPO that could have raised as much as US$3 billion.
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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